A little while ago, we received an offensive email from someone who had signed up to receive our free 5 day e-course and then said we were spamming them as they had received emails from us for 3 consecutive days!?? They also wrote that “Adam Eason is a man who stutters a lot and likes the sound of his own voice…”

They wrote a few other things that were a bit offensive and personal as far as I was concerned.

The reason I mention this is that I am realistic and I know that you cannot convert the world into fans of everything I do here. I once was told by a mentor that when you try to be everything to everyone, you can end being nothing to everyone. When you try to blandly please everyone, it does not work. So I stick to being who I am; stutters, manic-hyper speech, self-righteous, warts and all! That is how I am folks. I politely replied to this person, removed them from our mailing list and genuinely considered that perhaps we needed to make it clearer about what people will receive when they sign-up for such courses – we took it all on board and have done what we can.

My subject today is something different though, and this is a bit of a tenuous link into it. I think being yourself is important and we should all stop worrying about whether or not others will like that. If they don’t, you can concentrate on the people that you do like you for who you are, can’t you?

However, the main reason for me mentioning it is because of the reference to the sound of my voice, not necessarily fitting in with our complainants notion of what a hypnotherapist’s voice should be like.

Yet I cringe at people with affected voices used for inducing hypnosis. I mean, you whisper when you want something kept private, right?

As a hypnotherapist, your voice can be a tool to be used for some effect. That is understood.

I mean, if I was just about to take you into hypnosis, and if I then screeched to you “Ok, relax will ya, go into hypnosis” in a shrill voice with a hard to understand manner, do you think you would respond by relaxing and going into hypnosis? I am guessing that my voice being like this is unlikely to aid the hypnotic process or get someone settled and focused.

Yet, at the other end of the spectrum, we have huge swathes of hypnotherapists who think they need to be a DJ on Hush FM to induce hypnosis, and they almost whisper in a very unnaturally low way.

Our voice is a tool that can be used in so many various aspects of our life; at work, at home, with friends, family and colleagues and more. The way we use our voice influences how people react to us and behave with us.

To be a good hypnotist, it is important that you communicate effectively and congruently. Some hypnotists use a soft monotone which bores me, others use a sing song voice, and yet others use a natural but slower and lower tone of voice to induce hypnosis. Some hypnotists then even suggest when speaking to a hypnotic subject that “my voice is very soothing and relaxing to you”.  We do not always need to actually say those words, rather we can intimate that with the way we use our voice, perhaps?

How you use your voice creates a reaction to everyone you communicate with and it can be used to your advantage with great results.

I do recommend that you keep congruent. It is good to model a hypnotist or other successful hypnotists and do listen to good quality hypnotists and how they use their voice, however, it is important that you maintain the essence of what is you. You must be true to who you are. You can be relaxing and soothing (if it is pertinent to be so), in your own way too. You are not Milton Erickson, you are not Paul Mckenna, you are not Adam Eason, so do not try to be them. Remain true to your own style.

When people hear the voice of Barry White, they respond to it. Not only was it deep and rich, it was often slow, considered and deliberate. It was purposeful and easy to listen to. Ex-James Bond Actor Roger Moore had a voice with very similar qualities. We can look at how actors, speakers and singers use their voices and we can use our own voices accordingly. We can learn from how they use their voices without impoersonating them though. These people speak from their tummy’s, they speak from their abdomen, not their throats, their noses or their chests.

I can remember being shown an exercise on a hypnosis training course with John LaValle once and we pointed to our noses, then our throats, our chests and abdomens while speaking from each of those places: The difference was amazing and how everyone reacted to the sounds made was even more amazing.

Posture and movement are an integral part of any voice usage. Part of being able to use your voice well includes the ability to be aware of your body, identify and correct problems that arise due to incorrect posture.

This does not mean that your posture needs to be perfect! Standing naturally ensuring the head, neck and shoulders are relaxed is the correct posture for using your voice to maximum effect. it will ensure it is clear at the very least.

Whilst most people do this automatically, there are others whose posture has become lazy, or who have developed bad habits that can inhibit their voice, making them seem muffled or even distracted.

So if you keep your chin and head up, your shoulders relaxed and your body relaxed, your voice is likely to project easier and more freely, without strain.

One of the cornerstones of learning to use your voice is knowing how to breathe correctly and learn to control your breathing so that it is used to optimum effect when you speak.

When we are born our breathing is naturally correct, babies can breathe, yell and scream with optimum effect because they use their lungs without conscious thought. As we grow older, some people become lazy in their habits only using the upper part of the lungs, taking a shallow breath instead of a normal one.

Hold a finger close to your lips and breathe out slowly, the breath should be warm and moist and you should notice the action of the diaphragm as you exhale. This is the correct amount of breath used when singing normally. A singer does not need to ‘force’ or ‘push’ air through the vocal chords to produce a good strong sound, doing so creates too much pressure against the chords, preventing them from operating correctly which can cause damage to the voice.

The stomach area should move naturally inward toward the end of the breath, the stomach should not be ‘sucked in’ as it prevents the diaphragm from working effectively. Instead the abdominal area should remain expanded to the level it was when you inhaled and allowed to gradually decrease naturally at the end of the breath.

There is no evidence that suggests speaking in any particular way enhances hypnosis. Though we are all very aware of someone’s mood through their breathing and voice usage.

So I’d say, rather than trying to talk in a way you think might be ‘hypnotic’ why not instead, just learn to enhance your natural voice, with posture, correct breathing, good pace and considered communication, without trying to effect the tones of some stereotype of how a hypnotist should sound… I think it may even put people off to turn all unnecessarily falsetto!

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Have some of themes here resonated with you? Then have a read of these pages:

1. Do you need help or support in a particular area of your life?
Coaching with Adam Eason Or Hypnotherapy with Adam Eason
2. Would you like a satisfying and meaningful career as a hypnotherapist helping others? Are you a hypnotherapist looking for stimulating and career enhancing continued professional development and advanced studies?
Adam Eason’s Anglo European training college.
3. Are you a hypnotherapist looking to fulfil your ambitions or advance your career?
Hypnotherapist Mentoring with Adam Eason.

Likewise, if you’d like to learn more about self-hypnosis, understand the evidence based principles of it from a scientific perspective and learn how to apply it to many areas of your life while having fun and in a safe environment and have the opportunity to test everything you learn, then come and join me for my one day seminar which does all that and more, have a read here: The Science of Self-Hypnosis Seminar. Alternatively, go grab a copy of my Science of self-hypnosis book.