Bowers Hypnosis

I often receive calls from clients looking to improve their self-esteem so this week let’s look at how hypnosis can improve someone’s self-esteem.

Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself plain and simple.  Think about the words we use to describe self-esteem.  I hate myself; a feeling.  I love being this smart; a feeling.  We’re always describing our self-esteem based on how it makes us feel.    So how does hypnosis change a person’s self-esteem?  By going to the root of the problem and that’s the client’s self-image.

A person’s self-image is the sum of all of the beliefs a person holds about themselves.  I’m smart.  I’m fat.  I’m athletic.  I’m attractive.  These are all beliefs a person may hold about themselves and together they form a person’s self-image.  Why is the self-image so important because beliefs the seed of emotions.  First you have to belief something then and only then is an emotion generated.  It’s always that way.  Don’t believe me then try this.

I want you to make yourself feel either good or bad about yourself, it doesn’t matter which.  However, you cannot use any belief to generate this feeling.  For example you can’t think to yourself, I’m fat or stupid or smart or attractive or any other attribute about who you believe you are.  Nor can you create an image of yourself in you mind because these images are just a visualization of a belief.  Now try to generate a feeling about yourself without first thinking of some belief you hold about yourself.  It’s impossible to do.  Why, because emotions require a by a belief to generate the feeling.

Here’s another example of beliefs generating feelings.  Two people take a test.  They both score 95%.  One person is disappointed and the other ecstatic.  They both scored exactly the same score so what’s the difference, their beliefs.  The person who is disappointed believes that getting that low a score makes them a failure.  The person who is ecstatic beliefs that they were very successful.  It’s simply the individual’s belief about the test that generated either a positive or a negative feeling.  It’s the same in everything in life, our beliefs generate our feelings.

Ok, so now we know that the self-image is the sum of all the beliefs a person has about themselves.

We know that self-esteem is the feeling generated as a result of a person’s self-image.

So, to improve one’s self-esteem we need to change a person’s self-image.  Change the self-image and you change their self-esteem.

When a client comes in to improve their self-esteem we focus on improving their self-image knowing that improving the self-image will automatically improve their self-esteem.  Hypnotists focus on helping the client replace their negative beliefs about themselves with more empowering beliefs.  The more positive the belief, the better the self-esteem.

By the way, no one every has a single feeling of self-esteem.  There are areas of their life in which they feel good and there are areas where they feel not so good.  Whether they are feeling good or bad about themselves depends on which beliefs in their self-image are currently in the forefront of their thoughts.  So improving someone’s self-esteem, their self-image is about finding those beliefs that generate negative feelings, removing them and replacing them with a more positive belief.  Working belief by belief a client and their hypnotist can make tremendous improvements in the client’s self-esteem.

So that’s it for this week.  If you would like to improve your self-esteem by improving your self-image give us a call.  The difference between poor self-esteem and good self-esteem does require some action on your part, you have to make the call.  Isn’t feeling good about yourself worth it?

What do hypnotists do?  That’s a great question.  People know that hypnotists help people stop smoking or lose weight.  They may even know that hypnosis helps reduce stress.  What they don’t really understand is exactly what a hypnotist does.  Well here’s the simple answer.

Hypnotists help people achieve their dreams.  That’s right, hypnotists help people achieve their dreams.  I’m not trying to be cute with this answer it’s simply the 60,000 foot view of hypnosis.  Think about it for a moment.

• When someone uses hypnosis to stop smoking or smoking cessation as some like to call it the hypnotist is helping that person achieve their dream of being a healthy non-smoker.
• When someone loses weight with hypnosis we’re helping them achieve their dream of being slim and trim.
• When a hypnotist helps someone overcome the fear of flying we’re helping them achieve a dream of flying to an exotic vacation.
• Helping someone remove anxiety from their life is allowing them to fulfill their dream of a more relaxed life.
• Using hypnosis to pass a test that allows a young man or woman to get into college or achieve a professional license is helping that person achieve their dream.
• Helping someone explore their inner consciousness allows the individual to achieve a dream of knowing themselves better.

I could go on and on with examples but you get the picture.  Hypnotists use their skills in hypnosis to remove roadblocks that prevent people  from achieving they want in life.  It may be a big dream or a small dream but its a dream none the less.

So now that you know what hypnotists do, what dream can we help you achieve?

This week I was talking to a prospective client and he raised a great question, “How should I choose a hypnotist?”  I have to admit it caught me off guard.  I paused, gathered my thoughts and here’s what I told him.

First, find out how long they have been doing hypnosis.  Nothing against someone who is just starting we were all there once.  However, with experience comes skill and a greater number of tools to use to successfully help people solve their issues.

Second, find out how they received their training.  In the state of Ohio there is no licensing board for hypnotists (nor for that matter is there in almost any other state).  This doesn’t mean that the hypnotist is not well educated.  Ask the hypnotist who trained them and what organization the trainer represented.  The largest hypnosis group in the world is the National Guild of Hypnotists.  They have a well defined and rigorous program that is considered by many to be the “gold” standard of training.

Third, find out how many sessions will be needed.  If the answer is one then I’d dig further into their success rates.  In my 10 years of experience as a hypnotist I’ve found that most issues require at least two session.  Why, because no matter how enthusiastic a client is about hypnosis there is always that little trace of anxiety in the first session.  This anxiety impedes the process.  On the other extreme beware of someone who tells you that it is going to take a high number of sessions, say six or more.  In this case they may be using antiquated techniques that require more time or they’re simply out to get your money.  Anywhere from two to five sessions is a good average for hypnotists using state of the art techniques.

While were on the topic of techniques, ask them what techniques they use.  The simplest technique is called “direct suggestion”.  With this technique the hypnotist simply talks to you and embedded in the talk are suggestions pertinent to your issue.  Direct suggestion works well if the hypnotist has a very good assumption of what the root cause of the issue is.  When the root cause is less well understood then the technique is less successful.  In general, hypnotist who depend on direct suggestion tend to use a higher number of sessions.

Another style of hypnosis is a more interactive approach in which the hypnotists uses a variety of techniques to uncover the root cause of the issue.  These techniques involve some type of conversation between the client and the hypnotist while the client is under hypnosis.  The techniques recognize that the subconscious created the issues and can willingly communicate the reasons for the issue.  Once the root cause is uncovered, the issues can be directly addressed and quickly resolved.  These techniques greatly reduce the amount of time needed to address a client’s issue.

Both styles of hypnosis can be effective and many hypnotist combine the two styles.  For the quickest results find a hypnotist who combines both styles and you’ll get the results you desire with the fewest number of sessions.

Finally, talk to the hypnotist if it is at all possible.  If it’s over the phone that’s fine.  If a rapport develops between the two of you when you talk then it’s more likely that you’ll feel comfortable with the hypnotist when you arrive at his or her office.  If you’re not comfortable with the hypnotist when you talk to them then more on to the next one.

That’s it.  If I were choosing to use hypnosis to solve an issue, these are the questions I’d be asking.

Until next time.

Mike Bowers Consulting Hypnotist

A common question from clients is “Can I be hypnotized?”  They’ve heard that only certain people can be hypnotized and they’re wondering if they have that “special” skill.  Let me say right up front that everyone can be hypnotized.  There is no special skill.  All that’s required to be hypnotized is that three conditions are met.

First there must be rapport between the hypnotist and the client.  If the two of you don’t get along then stop right there because there’s no sense in proceeding further.  Politely let the hypnotist know that you are uncomfortable with them and ask them to recommend someone else.  Any professional will understand and refer you to someone else.  If you cannot establish rapport then you cannot achieve the second condition which is trust.

The client must trust the hypnotist.  Without a feeling of trust the client will experience a sense of fear and this feeling of fear will prevent the client from going into hypnosis.  The most common fear is the fear that the client will be somehow embarrassed during the session.  Never fear this, professionals will never do something that will embarrass you.  If you do feel uncomfortable with the hypnotist then take all the time you need getting  comfortable with the hypnotist.  If you’re still not comfortable then cancel the session.

The last condition required to be hypnotized is simply that you can follow instructions.  You see, all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis.  The hypnotist knows the instructions.  If you actively follow the instructions then you will hypnotize yourself.  If you don’t then no matter how skilled the hypnotist you won’t go into hypnosis.

There you have it, the three conditions necessary for you to become hypnotized.