You’re Going the Wrong Way!

I’ve been a certified clinical hypnotherapist for more than a dozen years. I’ve been trained and certified in several specialties, from teaching self-hypnosis to past life regression therapy and parts therapy. I’m also certified to teach hypnosis so that people who take trainings with me will be certified by the American Board of Hypnotherapy. What I want to share is that most people who get into hypnosis end up spending their time on the wrong thing. They’re going the wrong way.

Hypnosis is a fascinating topic and can be used to alter consciousness for magickal work. It’s powerful and it works. Unfortunately, most people who try it end up failing. This is not because hypnosis is nothing but a scam or a placebo, but because they are focusing on the wrong thing. They’re going the wrong way.

The Problem and the Error

Imagine this. You get a brand new car with a super-powerful, V8, turbocharged engine. It has special gearing that would not only help you win any drag race, but would also allow you to tow more weight than any other car in its class. This is one monster-powerful car!

You spend hours rubbing the finish with  your hands. Next, you get inside and spend more hours looking it over and touching the interior. You inhale that delicious (but toxic) “new car smell.” This car can seemingly do anything! Finally, you get out the instruction manual. You spend hours learning how to turn on the engine. Days later you can turn on the engine while sitting in the driver’s seat, while sitting in the passenger’s seat, while lying down, from outside by reaching under the hood, while you’re in the rear seat, and while you’re upside down, with your feet in the air and your hands on the pedals. You know dozens of ways to start the car.

Tentatively, you make your first attempt to get the engine running. You turn the key, give it some gas, the engine rumbles and—almost to your amazement—it bursts into life! The car shakes a bit with power. You know you could use the car to do just about anything and go just about anywhere.

If only you’d taken the time to learn how to drive the thing!

The driver of this imaginary car spent so much time learning how to appreciate it and start the engine that the most important thing—learning to drive the car and get it to take you places—was ignored. All that power, all that potential was totally wasted by spending time learning how to start the car—a relatively easy process—rather than learning how to drive it to a goal.

Most people trying to learn hypnosis make the same type of error. They spend all sorts of time learning how to hypnotize themselves or another person rather than on what to do after someone is hypnotized. That’s like learning how to start a car and not knowing how to drive.

Impromptu Hypnosis

This has culminated in a popular new movement called “street hypnosis” or “impromptu hypnosis.” You can see people doing this on YouTube and read about people who want to do this on various internet forums. Here’s what happens: The hypnotist meets someone, talks to them a bit, gets them to agree to be hypnotized, and then quickly hypnotizes the person. Then, the hypnotist has the person stick their hand to a pole or assume the position of statue and hold it for an extended length of time.

Really? Is this all you want to do with the incredibly powerful tool that is hypnosis? Here’s an incredible ability and all you can do is stick someone’s hand to a table or pole or trash can?

Part of “Hypnosis” by Sascha Schneider (1904)

From Trance to Trance

Have you ever become so involved in a movie or book that you thought you were there? You were in a type of hypnotic trance. Have you ever driven home late at night and before you knew it, you were home? Again, you were in a type of hypnotic trance. When you watch TV you’re in a type of hypnotic trance. That’s why advertisers pay so much to be on TV: the  message goes right to your subconscious mind and stays there.

Some people say that we are constantly moving from trance to trance and that hypnosis is just the process of interrupting that movement so that you will go into a desired trance rather than a random one. Whether you believe that or not, the idea is still clear: hypnosis is a common experience that everyone enjoys many times daily. Getting into trance via an induction is also something easy and normal.

What’s It Like?

So how can you tell if you’re hypnotized? What is it like? When I give a workshop on hypnosis I frequently ask if people would like to experience what hypnosis is like without being hypnotized. Almost everyone says yes. So I give this instruction:

Okay. Everyone sit up straight in your chairs. Feet flat on the floor. Hands in your laps. Get comfortable.

Now, close your eyes…

Good. now open your eyes.

That’s what hypnosis feels like.

Easy Yet Challenging

Hypnosis is easy to learn. You can learn it from a book or in a training class in under an hour. If people want to be certified as hypnotists by taking a training with me, I require 100 hours of work! But if learning hypnosis is so easy, why do I take so long?

First, I teach a few different types of inductions. Some take longer to learn than others. More importantly, however, is that I teach what to do before and after a person is hypnotized. This is the important part of learning what to do with your hypnotic car after you get it started. It is the true challenge of learning hypnosis

I have spent thousands of hours in training and in study. If you’re interested in hypnosis, I would recommend that you get training in your area. It’s simply easier to learn hypnosis that way. However you can learn to hypnotize yourself or other people from a book. More importantly, you can learn from books so much more of what to do after you hypnotize someone. Here are just a few titles that can teach you how to hypnotize and what to do after you, or someone else, is hypnotized:

Doors to Past Lives & Future Lives

Get Out of Your Way

Hypnosis for Beginners

New Age Hypnosis

Self-Empowerment through Self-Hypnosis and Self-Empowerment through Self-Hypnosis CD Companion

Self-Hypnosis for a Better Life