Will I do anything against my will?

A. No, you will not do anything that you do not think is acceptable or against your nature. You cannot be ‘made’ to violate your own values or accepted patterns of behavior. You would either reject the suggestion or come out of the hypnosis. You will hear everything that is said. You are in complete control at all times.

How the mind works

(Here is a review from CHAPTER III about the British Guard)

You do not have to tell them everything in the following section, however by understanding it yourself, you’ll know the key points to bring up.

Picture a doorway beside you. Lets imagine that this doorway is the doorway that enters your subconscious mind. Now imagine that there is a British guard in front of the doorway guarding it with a rifle. This British guard represents your conscious mind. Anything that is said to the subconscious mind he will stop before it enters.

One of the main problems with the conscious mind is that it is geared very negatively.

people upon hearing such a positive comment such as those would immediately rebel thinking to themselves. “What’s he trying to sell me?” or “OK, now what’s the

catch?” We immediately go on the defensive from hearing such a complement. Even though the person saying the comment may have meant it, most of us have such low self esteem that we will not accept it or we think there is an alternative motive behind it.

The conscious mind is a creature of habit, it tends to keep the status quo rather than make any drastic changes. Even though something may be good for it, it tends to stay the same way because it is comfortable or familiar with the way it is. Such as smoking for example. You can tell your conscious mind to stop smoking over and over again and that conscious guard will put up his weapon fighting off the

suggestions to quit smoking, rationalizing to itself things such as “I don’t want to quit, I am happy just as I am, I don’t care about cancer, I don’t care if it causes lung disease, it doesn’t matter if it makes me weak, I’m going to die someday anyway.” It seems like no matter how many positive comments you get … it will continue to fight them off. This is why it is so hard to make positive change such as smoking cessation or weight loss with most non-hypnotic programs.

Now going past the conscious guard into the room, you’ll find the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is the most perfect computer ever made. Every sight, sound, smell, taste, everything you’ve experienced since you were born is logged in perfect clarity in your subconscious mind. Now here lies the problem, imagine your subconscious mind being operated by a four year old child. It is innocent and naïve.

It wants to help you but just doesn’t know the best way to do it. Therefore it tries to help you the best way it knows how. A good example of that would be someone getting in a bad automobile accident. The subconscious mind wanting to protect this person may think that the best way to protect him is to cause a panic attack so this person will never leave the house again to get in a car. To a child it may seem like the best solution. Or another example would be someone who has a serious problem with gambling. A four year old child may think that the best way to eliminate this problem is by making that person lose his job so he has no money to spend. You can see where the subconscious mind really wants to help but may be completely missing the boat. Your job as a Hypnotherapist is to get past the conscious mind into the subconscious mind. Once there you must give the subconscious mind detailed instructions on how to solve the problem. Once the subconscious mind has the

much as they can. The subconscious mind wants to help you to solve your problems and to be functional member of society. Once the proper suggestions has been given and accepted by the subconscious mind you now have 95% of your mind working for you in comparison to the mere 5% of the conscious mind which constantly seems to be in a rebellion mode.

This brings us back to the conscious mind or guard. How do we get suggestions past the guard?

NON ANYLITICAL - There are two basic ways of doing this, in most cases all we have to do is relax the mind which will work for about 80% of society. These are who we call the “non-analytical” people. by giving suggestions of relaxation you can imagine that British guard just sitting down with his weapon going across his lap as you easily pass by him into the room of the subconscious mind. The guard is not asleep or unconscious; he is simply relaxing and in most cases is so relaxed that all the fight is gone out of him. This is very similar to when you come home after a long day of work, you sit back in the recliner, turn on the TV and just let yourself escape into your favorite television show or listen to your favorite music giving your mind a rest. During the middle of this deep relaxation your child comes in and ask you if he or she can have a cookie. You were so relaxed you may mumble something but not really even realizing that they were there. Some people call this “zoning out”. It’s just that simple, by relaxing totally the suggestions are able to get past the conscious mind into the subconscious where they can be acted upon.

ANALYTICAL - As for the other 20% of society, they are classified the analytical people. The analytical mind is one that is very difficult to relax. It enjoys keeping itself busy. By using relaxation techniques it will become bored or restless and in most cases will not react favorably to deep relaxation. With these people you want to use a different technique which is keeping their mind busy or occupied. Imagine yourself trying to do your taxes and have a conversation with a child at the same time especially if you are on a deadline, you find yourself so focused on your job that it is almost impossible to keep both things going at once. In order to finish your taxes you must focus on it neglecting the conversation or the other way around. This is the same principle we use to hypnotize the analytical mind. We give it a job to do.

Imagine the guard writing facts and figures on a blackboard … As he is doing his

even see you but he is so involved in the task that he is doing that he allows you to go past with little to no hindrance whatsoever.

Suggestibility test (Refer to chapter 2 for test)

After explaining how the mind works, you have a natural lead-in to the

suggestibility test. It is suggested to perform at least two suggestibility test with each subject, more if needed.

Explaining the results of the suggestibility test

Scenario one - (for a non-analytical results) “If you were invited to a party with friends or relatives, people that you enjoy being with, at someone else’s house, your personality would be … You would relax, have a good time and enjoy the humor and entertainment that is going on. Depending on how non-analytical you are would determine how much of a fun time you would be having such as if you are extremely non-analytical you would probably be the center of attention while those who are less analytical would just sit back and be enjoying the entertainment. It is easy for you to un-wind and let go at functions like this.

(for an analytical result) If you were at this same party your personality would be … You would probably stand up every time someone came near you to introduce yourself, then as soon as you sat down you jump up to give somebody a coaster for their drink, then you would sit and be right up again to probably straighten out a crooked picture on the wall, then you would sit and stand up again to see if you could help someone with something. You are the kind of person who cannot sit down and relax. You always have to keep busy doing one thing or another and most non-analytical people would probably find you very annoying.”

Scenario two - “If you were an accountant about to do my accounting and you knew it would only take you one hour to do the job but you had five hours to do it in, here’s how you would do it … (for a non-analytical result) You would probably get the job done in an hour and a half or so and you would do as good a job as anyone else would, however if the phone rang you would take a few moments to answer the phone, if the doorbell rang you would go to the door to see who was there and speak to them for a few moments. You would probably play some soft enjoyable music in

(For an analytical result) You would most likely get the job done in exactly one hour.

You would be so intent on finishing the job quickly and on time that you may even break a pencil or two in the process. If the phone rang you would let the answering machine answer it. If the doorbell rang you would either ignore it or ask someone else that was in the house to answer it for you. You would not play music in the background and you would most likely not have anything to drink while you’re doing the job. Your mind is set on finishing the task.”

Finish questionnaire

By this point in the session your subject understands what hypnosis is, what is going to be happening to them, and they should be comfortable with you. Now is the time that I ask all the personal information and delve into the reason why they’re here, finishing the questionnaire.

What to expect in the session

You may want to take a few moments to explain to your subject some of the feelings that they may experience in hypnosis so as to prepare them in case they feel anything strange happening during the session such as the lightness or heaviness in their body, R.E.M. etc.

Get them situated and prepared

Now is the time to show them the proper way to sit in the chair, (not crossing their arms or legs) and also make sure everything is set so you will not be disturbed during the session such as unplugging the telephone, and making sure that they do not have a cell phone or beeper on them.

Session