But a week or so ago, I saw a video about hypnosis on one of the video sharing websites and watching it made me feel very bad indeed. I really should have known better. I know all about smoke and mirrors and how to make something look like something it isn’t. I used to be a magician after all (no, really, I did. Pick a card, any card). But the video upset me. I very nearly threw out my hypnosis books and CDs and, if anyone mentioned hypnosis to me that week, I didn’t want to engage with the conversation. In short, I very nearly changed sides-so to speak.

Fortunately, I am blessed with two important things: 1) My own critical thinking and 2) Wonderful people such as Adam Eason and Glenn Harrold who, through their books and blog posts, provided me with enough information to realise I was in serious danger of letting an irrational fear based on very, very little destroy something that had been an amazingly positive part of my life for 12 years.

Perhaps, somewhere deep down, I feared the loss of hypnosis in my life. Saying that sounds stupid. Hypnosis is natural. You cannot drive a car without being in a state of hypnosis-unless you really want to do all the tasks you have to do to keep the car on the road on a conscious level. What I mean is, I may well fear the loss of the benefits I get from using hypnosis products in many areas of my life. You see, to some extent, I built a lot of my life using hypnosis.

My introduction to hypnosis products was Paul McKenna’s Supreme Self Confidence tape. I really, really fancied this girl in the year above me at school but I’d get so nervous even being near her that she’d probably get a conversation about waste management out of me and little more even if I could get the courage to talk to her. After much agonising, I bought the tape and used it over and over again, night after night. Eventually, I got the courage to talk to her and the tape helped set off a chain reaction where I became more confident in other areas of my life. To suddenly look back on those wonderful times with suspicion and fear- however irrational that fear was-made me feel very bad indeed.

One of the ways I stopped feeling so bad was by thinking things through logically. First of all, I have over 100 “become more confident” hypnosis recordings. I’ve listened to them all and used many on a regular basis. So how come I still have moments where I’m scared out of my wits by a social situation? How come I still have conversations with women about waste mangagement instead of normal things?

I’ll tell you why. Every time my subconcious mind heard a suggestion on one of those recordings that it didn’t like or agree with, it blocked it. I’ve got a bald spot and people are going to think I’m silly for doing this and my better half hasn’t stopped laughing about it either. But I got hold of this hypnosis recording that was meant to make me really attractive to women. In essence, to make me a “player”. Now, deep down- as it turns out- I don’t actually like the idea of being a player because my ethical and religious values are strongly feminist and being a “player” conflicts with those values. Needless to say, that recording didn’t work. I stopped it from working.

People who create adverts find subtle ways to manipulate and influence but why do they go to such great lengths to do that? Why not just hypnotise people and fill the ad with: “You are getting very sleepy…buy a Nissan”?

Why bother with driving tests? Just get someone to hypnotise you into being an amazing driver and off you go. Why bother with hospitals? Just get someone to hypnotise you not to be ill any more. Why bother with death? Just get someone to hypnotise you to tell your cells to keep on dividing and you can live forever. Why bother learning or studing a language? Just get someone to hypnotise you to instantly speak Green or Russian or French or whatever.

Thinking like that is what helped me see sense. Hypnosis is a very powerful tool and a natural state we go in and out of many times during the day. But you can’t make someone into something they’re not and you can’t make someone do something they don’t want to do.

That is how to win the battle for the image of hypnosis in the public at large. Take the argument of the enemy to its logical extreme and pull it apart from there. But at the end of the day, I’m afraid those who earn their money from hypnotherapy can’t really do as much to restore the proper image of hypnosis amongst the public at large as they might want to.

However good the argument and however genuine the motive, the vested interest will always stop some people from trusting. What’s needed is for people from all walks of life who have used hypnosis for a long period of time to band together and basically launch an assault on the negative image of hypnosis in some people’s minds.

Everyone is entitled to the opinion and I’m not talking about converting people to believe what we believe. The best option is to encourage people to think critically about the issue. To ask their own questions. If we do that there is every chance that people who are unsure about hypnosis- like I was last week for that brief period- will understand the truth.

Now then, let’s try something…You are getting very sleepy…when I snap my fingers you will visit:

http://www.justgiving.com/thelaughinglinguist.

You will then sponsor me a lot of money for Comic Relief. Are you ready…snap…

Did it work? No. Didn’t think so.

I am fortunate that I am being tutored and guided by someone wonderful, who is well informed about all these things. For me hypnosis has given me keys/passwords that have unlocked parts of my unconscious mind. Without it I wouldn’t be who I am today.
I am truely blessed that I found the right people from the outset to inform and train me well.
It is this suspicious beliefs that bring up barriers that might actually prevent people from getting the life they deserve.

That Charlie’s yoga group was prevented from using a methodist hall is possible another reason why some of us find the actions of so-called Christian folk. Very Unchristian.

Don’t knock it #til you’ve tried it!!!

🙂

I think there is more than just the title and connotation derived from it… I believe that people learn something, confirm it in their mind and then hold onto that initial learning – something which is tough to update when the person involved is not necesarily as motivated or interested to learn as you or I might be…

Still, if one of these guys turned up on my street today… They’d get a snowball to the head!

😉

Hypnosis is about the mind and we are part of the lucky gang that know that!

It seems a shame to me that just by mentioning the word hypnosis a door closes in some people’s minds … Do we need to be more creative in how we open that door? How we develop rapport …

I had a similar experience with yoga .. a few of my friends asked me to teach them yoga … they weren’t looking for spiritual enlightment .. relaxation … stretching .. OK, I just needed to find a venue … I phoned the nicest of our local halls .. that happens to be attached to a methodist church.. all sorts of clubs and classes and parties go on there.
‘Oh no .. we won’t hire the hall for that sort of thing … you might do that … meditation stuff’ said the lovely lady at the end of the line….

Now, if I had said a relaxation class …or a mind and body class .. it would have been a different story. I know that what I am doing is Yoga .. but if the name scares people off, should I change it? Is there part of us that gets attached to the title?

Charlie x