Hi guys. Gilles Brideau here with your Tactical Tuesday session.
As a hypnotist, what I was going to cover today is the Top 5 or so things that are asked a hypnotist on a regular basis. The number one thing I get asked is, “Are you going to make me bark like a dog or cluck like a chicken?” Now obviously, what I usually say to people is, “If I had an audience or your family member here, that would probably be entertaining, but no, that’s not the point and purpose of being here.”
A lot of times people have that misconception because of what they’ve seen either on film or in seeing a stage hypnosis performed live. What I remind people of is when you see a hypnosis show, they usually line up about 20 people or so on stage or invite 20 people on stage and then they reduce it to the best of 5 or 6 people usually. Then what I mean, the best 5 or 6, is because the hypnotist will do some very subtle suggestibility tests to find the best candidates to stay on stage. Now, that’s not necessarily saying clients or people that are willing to go along with, but it’s people that are ready to enter the state and knowing that they’re going to do this for entertainment, for fun, and to have a good laugh at themselves.
That’s usually the first thing that I get asked is around that. That’s usually based on fear. With every client, I do a lengthy pre-talk. A pre-talk’s purpose is to lower a person’s fear or anxiety as it pertains to hypnosis because a lot of times, people’s judgment of the process is based on what they’ve seen on TV or like I said, at a stage show. A lot of it is around education.
The biggest thing is around making a person feel comfortable, which brings me to the next question I get asked, which is, “Who can’t be hypnotized?” Actually, there’s only 4 categories of people who can’t be hypnotized. You’re going to hear a theme with everyone that I go through. The first type of person that can’t be hypnotized is if the person has an IQ below 70. Why can’t that person be hypnotized? Quite simply because they can’t pay attention to me. The second category of a person that can’t be hypnotized is if they’re under the influence of a mood altering substance like PCP, LSD, cocaine, all that kind of stuff, that will make them see things that aren’t there or hear things that aren’t there. Why? Because they can’t pay attention to me.
The third category of a person that can’t be hypnotized is if they’re actively in psychosis. When a person is in psychosis, the brain is a little confused, messages are going to the wrong place, so a person has the tendency to see things that aren’t there or hear things that aren’t there and again, they can’t pay attention to me, so you get to hear the theme. The last person, the very last person that can’t be hypnotized is if they don’t want to.
Understand that hypnosis is a collaborative process between the hypnotist, which is a guide, and the client. It’s very much a collaborative thing, so it’s not ever about a forced thing. In fact, under the whole process of hypnosis, you are totally under control. It is a state of focused attention. It is not a state of sleep. That’s confusing because when people see commands, when they see a stage show especially, is they give the command to sleep. When a person does that, they assume that the person is going to be more in that slumber state. Again, sometimes that belief gets reinforced because a person sees a person slouched over in this really wonderful slumber on stage, but it’s actually just a state of focused attention and not a state of sleep.
If I can give you examples of everyday trances that a person would go through, have you ever had this experience where you’re driving in your car and all of a sudden, especially on a highway or something, and all of a sudden you’re starting to think about a trip you’d like to take or what you’re going to make for supper or anything like that and all of a sudden, you snap back into reality and go, “Man I don’t remember driving.” I’m sure most of you have had that experience. That’s actually called ‘highway trance.’ Know that ‘trance’ is an interchangeable word for hypnosis.
That’s what happens a lot of times for people is that they have this feelings like they’re a passenger in their own car. Now, know that when you’re in that state of highway trance, you’re not under anybody’s control. In fact, your eyes are still open hopefully and your subconscious mind always keeps you protected. What I mean by that is if a small child or animal popped out in front of your car, you still wouldn’t be fantasizing or thinking about what it is that you were thinking about, supper, a girl, or whatever. You would always address what was more important, which is the thing in front of you, which is a really, really critical point. Your subconscious mind always keeps you safe.
Now in a clinical way, what I say to people is, and they can really attest to that fact, that if a small child or animal, they would naturally stop. I would say, “Your subconscious mind always keeps you safe.” What I mean by, if I were to say something totally stupid and inappropriate to you like you’re going to go home and not feed your dog for example, you would just take off the equipment and say, “Gilles, I don’t think so.”
You can never be made to do things against your will. Now again, that often flies in the face of what people have seen either on stage or on television, but clinically, it’s actually the best example of explanation of how hypnosis truly works. A lot of you may be wondering, “Well what does it really feel like?” In order to get … We’re going to do an experiential thing right here, so you can really feel what it feels like. I’m going to give you a real life example and we’re going to do an experiential exercise.
The experiential example I can give you is, have you ever had this experience where you’re coming home after a long day’s work and you just take a few minutes to just lay down on the couch? You get all nice and comfortable or for you married people even better so, that you’re lying in your bed and your partner wants to come and talk about their most recent passion. Whether that’s Game of Thrones or House of Cards or the Kardashians, whatever it may be. Now, you could hear them in the background, but it’s almost like they’re fading away and you don’t really want to move because you’re just so comfortable. Hypnosis feels like that.
It’s a state of mind where you’re just so comfortable that you don’t want to move, but you can still hear the person very clearly. Now then, this is a really good reason to have a pre-talk with clients because I remember when I didn’t use a pre-talk, my clients wold often finish a session and they would come and say, “I don’t know if I was hypnotized because I heard everything you said.” Well, of course you did because otherwise how would you know you were done?
You always hear everything that’s said. With that, I’m going to give you a real feeling. What is it like to feel hypnotized. Now, if you’ll indulge me for just a few seconds. I’d like you to close your eyes. Great. Now, if your eyes aren’t closed, just do that now. Just close your eyes for a few seconds. Right, perfect. This is what hypnosis feels like. Now open your eyes.
Now, you may feel a little bit more relaxed than you did just now. Most of my clients will say they feel either heavy, sinking in the chair or light and floaty depending what type of session we’re doing. That’s really what it feels like. Again, it’s a state of focused attention. It is not a state of sleep. Most of the time, that’s what they’re going to report that it feels like.
Now, the last thing I want to cover is what’s most important for a hypnosis session in order to be truly successful? Now, it falls into 4 categories. The first category as it pertains to hypnosis and the giving of suggestions or the acceptance of a suggestion because why is it so important that the suggestions get accepted is because we want the mind to be open to the giving of suggestions or the reception of suggestions, so it bypasses critical factor.
The critical factor of your brain is a really wonderful thing that is like your bullshit detector, which may be on high right now by the way, but it’s really that part of your brain that protects you to maintain the status quo. What that critical factor, that protective factor, in order to bypass it, so that the giving of suggestions is readily accessible, it depends on 1 of 4 things. Now, the first one is what’s most important, so we’ll cover that first. The best way for a hypnosis session to be successful is that the issue that you’re dealing with is absolutely and positively what you want.
Now, I’ll say that again. What’s most important for the bypass of the critical factor is that the issue or suggestion that is given is absolutely in line with what you want. Here’s what I mean. If on first session, we’re working on self-confidence, I’ll say to the person, “Would you like to feel more wonderful than you’re feeling right now?” Most people will say, “Absolutely.” Now, when the mind is open like that, you’re much more likely to produce great results. I’ll give you the opposite. If a person has more of a guarded sense, that will not allow the critical factor to be bypassed.
Sometimes, it’s based on, “I’m uncomfortable by what you’re saying,” or “I’m uncomfortable by the environment.” Again, this is why I use a pre-talk because it’s so important that we inoculate against a person feeling with doubt. Again, it’s really important whether I do smoking or anything else, that I am convinced that the person actually wants to deal with that issue. Otherwise, the mind will just protect them and do what they did yesterday. What’s the best predictor of tomorrow’s behavior? What you did yesterday.
The other way that a person will not allow the critical factor to be bypassed is that they feel neutral. Like, oh this works. Cool if it doesn’t work. That’s fine too. No big loss. Again, if you’re in a neutral position, you’re much more likely to reject a suggestion than if your mind is really open and you are gung-ho like, “Man I really want this. I like this suggestion. I want this to be a part of my life.”
The last one is around language of hope and try. Meaning, “I hope this works,” or “I’m willing to give it a try.” I usually suggest to my clients to eliminate the words ‘hope’ and ‘try’ because I want you to imagine, so I just got a little whiteboard brush here and if I said to you, “I want you to imagine picking up the brush.” Now, most people will just pick it up. I say, “No, no. Don’t pick it up. Try to pick it up.”
Now, notice that you can’t try to do anything. You either pick it up or you don’t. I use that as an example with clients all the time that, there is no in-between. You can’t have your foot on the dock and in the boat. You have to make the decision to be in the boat or on the dock. I let them know with full acceptance that if they choose to stay on the dock or they choose not to do this, I’m totally fine because this has to really be about them and not about me. A big part of this is around me getting out of the way to allow their process to take place.
That’s the Top 5 things that I do in my pre-talk. There are some more additional stuff on how I use electronics in my session. We’ll probably talk about that in the sessions to come, but this is more the pre-talk that I do with clients. It’s a little bit more elaborate, but this is the Top 5 things that people typically ask a hypnotist as it pertains to a hypnosis session.
I hope that’s been helpful. Thanks so much for listening to me today. I hope you have enjoyed the content and please send me your comments or any other things that you may find useful and I will gladly be willing to help you resolve any issues or problems that you may have. That’s it for today. Thanks again for joining in. Have a great day and we’ll see you soon.