Success Work Hypnosis

Squareeater.com -- Brainwave Entrainment, Free Online!

2012-01-28T03:21:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been interested in exploring brainwave entrainment audios, also known as isochronic or binaural beats (those are actually two different but similar types of entrainment tracks, BTW). These are audios that will guide your brain to function at a certain frequency, whether a meditative frequency (Alpha rate), a deeply contemplative state (Theta), a sleepy state (Delta), an alert state (Beta). Such recordings can quickly and easily get you into the kind of mind-state that you want to be in, a sort of a tuning fork from the brain. They can be great resources, and they can be a lot of fun.

In a nutshell, they are recordings with sounds that oscillate at the same frequency that you'd like your mind to be functioning at. As you listen to them, your brain begins to alter it's rhythm to match the audio, in much the same way that a headbanger kid will swing his head in time to the beat of a favorite band, or a cowboy may tap his toe to the sound of a banjo. The effect is even more powerful when combined with similarly oscillating visuals, and there are even expensive devices with headphones and goggles that flash, that will play entrainment audio and video for you. Expensive devices.Well, Here's a chance to explore these things for free! http://squareeater.com/ offers a number of carefully crafted audio AND video tracks right on their website for you to enjoy. Just click on the square that entices you and go! These things have been called electronic drugs. They aren't, though that's a good selling talk, but they are fun, and very trancey. Obviously, do not use them while driving, operating heavy machinery or tattooing bikers, and do not use them if you have a risk or a history of seizures.

Hear Me On These PUA Podcasts!

2011-11-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

The Secret Seduction Podcast is a great new blog aimed at guys who want to get better results in their dating lives, and their self-image and development (but they're good for girls, too!). The guys on the podcasts are smart, and savvy, and the material they cover about personal development and dating are useful and deep. Plus--I'm part of the discussion on three podcasts!

Go to the blog and have a listen:
http://secretseductionpodcast.wordpress.com/

Brain twister!

2011-10-14T02:49:00.000-07:00

This floats around the internet, but it's always fun. Do you know why it works?

Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed this forwrad it.

It works because our mind processes information in chunks. If you read a lot, you've trained your mind to absorb chunks, in this case word-chunks. The more familiar words will be recognized in the same way you'd recognize a single letter that was drawn backwards. For other, less familiar words, you'll read over them and get clues based on their position within the sentence and your knowledge of grammar.

The Strongest Induction?

2011-09-20T01:35:00.000-07:00

Recently I was talking to someone about the strongest hypnotic induction. What do you think it is?

Dave Elman talks in his book about getting clients into a trance in 90 seconds that was so deep they could do dental surgery without pain and with minimal bleeding. Milton Erickson specialized in getting in possible results with impossible clients.. You can go to youtube.com and search for "rapid inductions" and you'll see people being dropped right off their feet and into deep trance in a number of different ways.

So what's the strongest way?

For me, the answer is NONE of them.

when I first started studying hypnosis, I was perplexed as to how Elman could get such a deep state of trance so very quickly. The clue was there, but I was making a mistake that a lot of people make when they first start.

I thought it was something in the induction.
It's an understandable mistake. Fans of direct suggestion talk about the power and authority, prestige, of the direct suggestion, while fans of Ericksonian hypnosis talk about the irresistible subtlety of those language patterns.

But the bottom line, the real power in the induction is YOU. The confidence and the experience that you exercise is what really determines how deep and how consistently you can get people into trance.

The secret is touched on by Elman in his book "Hypnotherapy." At the time the book was written, he was only teaching hypnosis to doctors and dentists, and he tells the story of how he insisted that his students practice on a certain number of their patients every single day. One dentist/student, who didn't begin to actually practice until several week into the class drew Elman's ire, and he explained that without the consistent practice he'd never get good at hypnosis.

No matter how much studying you do in hypnosis, your strength will come from the amount of practice, with different people and in different situations, that you do. You have to do it with awareness, but also consistency. Experience is a big ingredient in your confidence and control.

Now there are some people who want to learn hypnosis because they feel it will give them greater confidence in social situations, and it can be a tool for gaining confidence. And it will be, IF you go out and practice. Push your boundaries! Because for real power in hypnosis, that's something you have to bring to the situation from inside you.

Sure, some people are natural hypnotic subjects, with good intelligence and great imagination, and they'll drop as easily and deeply into trance as you want them to go. But you can't rely on the client always being able to go, no matter how much they want to. You have to have strong skill, and for that you need confidence in your own ability to hypnotize, and also confidence in being able to motivate your subject to get to the place you want them to go. That means being well familiar with different levels of trance, and well familiar with the different ways to communicate that trance in a way the subject can relate to.

Then the induction becomes the magic spell that the uninitiated think it is.

The McGurk Effect--how one sense perception messes with another

2011-04-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

They say, "It's not what you say, but how you say it."
Scientists are discovering that's more true than you ever imagined! would you beleive that what you see affects what you hear? That's the McGurk Effect,

Check out the video to learn all about it:

I came across this on Mind Bending Videos (http://www.mindbendingvideos.com/) Sign up with them for even more thought-provoking stuff!

Changes coming to article hosting

2011-04-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

If you're a regular to the blog, you know that I occasionally post longer, more in-depth articles that are in downloadable PDF format. For a long time I've had them hosted at a document download site that offered a number of nice features, and required nothing from those seeking to access the documents (you guys).

I recently discovered that not only have they changed to demand people register for the site now, but they want to collect money.

I didn't know anything about this, and so I'm going to be changing that very soon. In the meantime, if there's a downloadable article you've seen on the blog that you'd like in PDF format --free of charge-- just email me. If a time comes when money is demanded for them, it'll be as part of one of my books, not from some anonymous 3rd party website. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do you have to be a BITCH?

2011-04-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

(This came out of a discussion in a confidence workshop I was giving)l..

There are women who believe that "bitch" is synonymous with a confident, assertive woman. From my perspective, this is structured on some false beliefs that will sabotage a woman's effectiveness in the long run.

One of the most common: a lot of women are raised in a culture that implicitly or explicitly inhibits them from asserting themselves when they have to or want to, so they internalize a certain amount of pain and frustration. When they get past the inhibition and get comfortable asserting themselves, they feel that someone has to feel pain, so they can only assert themselves if they do it at the expense of the feelings of the other person. (This can also be a rationalization for not asserting one's self!). They link their assertiveness with a sadistic edge and inflict pain and frustration on others.

Conversely, there are some women who feel a need to belittle and undermine others for the sake of thier own self-image, and justify that as "assertiveness," but it's a kind of rationalization.

A lot of people who aren't comfortable being assertive think that it needs a hurtful edge in order to be effective, but in fact, this can work to a person's detriment. Even when bitchiness achieves it's desired goal, it's overkill creates animosities that can sabotage your efforts in the future.

Anyone can be confident, uncompromising and goal-oriented without needless cruelty (notice I say needless--sometimes it's called for!!)

A person who is generally personable and confident actually has the freedom to be bitchy or cruel on occasion and will be forgiven, while kindness from a bitch counts for nothing. If you're cooking something, you can always increase the heat if you have to, but once the food burns, you can't take the heat away. (Was it bad to use a cooking metaphor? ;^{P~ ).

Firey Trances--The All Blacks Haka Dance

2011-01-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

When someone is trying to intimidate you and dominate your environment, what can you do?

Last Wednesday's I was co-instructing an intro class in hypnotic inductions. The question arose about whether trance has to be that sleepy, zombied-out state that you see in the movies. Definitely NOT! Any focused, emotional state is a kind of trance. Athletes talk about "being in the zone" Shamanic cultures use ecstatic dancing, dervishes whirl, and New Zealand Rugby team, the famous All Blacks, do the "Haka," a ferocious Maori war dance.

Some key elements for any of dynamic trances include mental focus, rhythm, breath, emotional intensity, even physical challenge.

See them all here:

You can see the powerful effect it has on the practitioners, and maybe even on you too (if you're not feeling anything, just watch it a couple of times), but also try to notice the effect it has on the other team and even the audience. It can be very intimidating. It not only fires up the players, but dominates the playing field and the arena.

How do the opponents cope with it?

Samoans (also a Polynesian culture) have their own war dance:

The Welsh hold the field and refuse to yield, which seems to take the All Blacks by surprise (you can see their surprise!)

The British fans, in a show of solidarity, all sing together and literally drown out the Haka cry, reminding them they're not on home turf:

The Irish challenge the "prestige" of the Haka by violating the space of the All Blacks:

What about you? When someone is trying to intimidate you and dominate your environment, is there anything you can take away from these videos?

Unique and powerful display of Mirroring and Matching

2011-01-06T02:06:00.000-08:00

In this video, you can see two early experts of NLP demonstrating Mirroring. A display of Matching occurs around 2:00, and the video finishes up with a very sophisticated pattern break. Study it carefully!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5lU52aWTJo

Quitting Smoking--Hypnosis or Drugs?

2010-12-21T00:51:00.000-08:00

Hypnosis is a very popular way to quit the ciggies, but so are pharmaceutical means. Chantix is the most popularly prescribed drug to help quit, but there've been some ugly stories about it's side effects since the beginning. In this article, you can read all about it:

Chantix, blamed in suicides, called poorly tested
Lilly Fowler, FairWarning
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/18/MNUB1GQ9OE.DTL

Conservative Psychology?

2010-12-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

What do you think about this article?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/aug/13/usa.redbox

Study of Bush's psyche touches a nerve
Julian Borger in Washington
The Guardian,
Wednesday 13 August 2003 02.33 BST

A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity".
As if that was not enough to get Republican blood boiling, the report's four authors linked Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the rightwing talkshow host, Rush Limbaugh, arguing they all suffered from the same affliction.

All of them "preached a return to an idealised past and condoned inequality".

Republicans are demanding to know why the psychologists behind the report, Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition, received $1.2m in public funds for their research from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The authors also peer into the psyche of President George Bush, who turns out to be a textbook case. The telltale signs are his preference for moral certainty and frequently expressed dislike of nuance.

"This intolerance of ambiguity can lead people to cling to the familiar, to arrive at premature conclusions, and to impose simplistic cliches and stereotypes," the authors argue in the Psychological Bulletin.

One of the psychologists behind the study, Jack Glaser, said the aversion to shades of grey and the need for "closure" could explain the fact that the Bush administration ignored intelligence that contradicted its beliefs about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

The authors, presumably aware of the outrage they were likely to trigger, added a disclaimer that their study "does not mean that conservatism is pathological or that conservative beliefs are necessarily false".

Another author, Arie Kruglanski, of the University of Maryland, said he had received hate mail since the article was published, but he insisted that the study "is not critical of conservatives at all". "The variables we talk about are general human dimensions," he said. "These are the same dimensions that contribute to loyalty and commitment to the group. Liberals might be less intolerant of ambiguity, but they may be less decisive, less committed, less loyal."

But what drives the psychologists? George Will, a Washington Post columnist who has long suffered from ingrained conservatism, noted, tartly: "The professors have ideas; the rest of us have emanations of our psychological needs and neuroses."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/aug/13/usa.redbox

Hypnotic gastric bypass info

2010-11-26T04:14:00.000-08:00

There;s been a lot of buzz in the media lately about the hypnotic gastric bypass. Does hypnosis really work for weight loss? Is it as effective as surgery? Is it less painful? (The answer to that is, obviously, YES!), What else is hypnosis good for?

The process was been pioneered by Sheila Granger in Britain, and here is a terrific little BBC article about the whole issue.

Positivity and negative feelings--video

2010-08-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find something dragging when you try to focus on your goals? Maybe when you should feel fantastic you have some sort of unhappy feeling occuring, but you can't put your finger on it.

I offered a class on Meditation for Prosperity and Abundance on Aug. 18, 2010. We covered the whys and hows of feeling great about the things you want, why it's important to feel great if you want great results (or sometimes any results at all), and how to find that great feeling. We also discussed what to do when you feel some sort of negativity when you should be feeling terrific.

I'll have more videos from this info-packed class soon, but I thought this one clip was important enough to post right now. If you have any questions, please ask!

Video highlights from Confidence for Men workshop

2010-07-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some video clips from my recent Confidence for Men workshop. I'll be offering an updated version soon again. In the meantime, please enjoy these clips and give me your unvarnished opinions.

Tough Love

2010-07-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

Different clients respond to different approaches!

Video Highlights from Assertiveness for Women

2010-07-07T23:44:00.000-07:00

I recently offered a free two hour session on Assertiveness for Women. If you missed it, here are some highlights on video, and I think you'll find some very useful information. Check it out, and let me know how it works for you! (Don't worry--I'll be offering this again soon!)

Confidence for Men -- FREE EVENT! (NYC)

2010-07-02T03:23:00.000-07:00

If you're in NYC Wednesday, July 7th, please come!

http://www.meetup.com/Successwork/calendar/13884540/

Men's magazines and the Internet are full of advice on what to say and how to dress for confidence. But what works for one guy may not work for another. Are you overwhelmed by all of it? Want to find what works for you? Tired of that frustration?

In this free session, we'll explore ways of looking at the situations you face in new ways, to give you new options for success.

Believe it or not, you're probably already more confident than you think. We'll discover ways of finding your existing strengths and use that knowledge to build up and out, as well as building the new strengths that you need most.

Be aware that this won't be a talky lecture. We'll be doing some transformative exercises in class that will help you make the changes you want right there! you'll leave feeling changed and be able to practice these techniques anytime you want for even better results!

For more info, to ask questions and sign up:
http://www.meetup.com/Successwork/calendar/13884540/

Would you shock the puppy?

2010-07-02T03:09:00.000-07:00

What makes good people do evil things?

Watch this excellent presentation by Philip Zimbardo, it's an hour & 48 minutes long and chock full of info. He originally achieved fame with the notorious Stamford Prison Experiment in the 70s, and more recently explored the minds of the soldiers who were prosecuted for what happened in Abu Gharib, which can be found in his new book "The Lucifer Effect."

http://forum-network.org/lecture/lucifer-effect-how-good-people-turn-evil

Do you believe me?

2010-06-12T02:23:00.000-07:00

I'm often asked why I don't add more footnotes to my articles.

The reason is--
I don't (necessarily) want you to believe me!

It's common for academic documents to back up their position with a plethora of footnotes to verify the author's hypothesis. My articles are strictly from my point of view and based on my experiences, and I feel that my conclusions are valid. But I'm sharing them to inspire you to think about and experiment with these subjects. It's great if, after you read these, you come to the same conclusions that I do. Nevertheless, I always say: do your own research and come to your own conclusions!

If, at the end of it all, you come to the same results I do, I'd love to hear about it. If you find I'm full of hooey, let me know about that too!

Why you should learn about Learned Helplessness

2010-06-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

"Learned helplessness—it’s not really a term that you hear used in NLP or hypnosis, rather it’s from the realm of psychology, and like so many psychological terms, bastardized versions have found their way into common everyday conversations. Still, it’s a very important mechanism, and understanding learned helplessness will go far towards understanding what makes people behave in the ways they do. In everyday use, you might hear phrases like: “my room-mate is such a slob. He won’t do a bit of housework unless I really push him—he’s a real case of learned helplessness.” Well, it’s certain he’s a slob, and while the person doing the talking is referring to his
inability towards independent housework, whether or not it’s the result of “learned helplessness” is arguable."

--Ever wonder why some people get "blocked" in life?

--have you tried to figure out why some people will wallow in miserable situations when you can plainly see they have a way out?

--Ever wonder why you sometimes put your mind on a goal and the harder you work to achieve it the harder it is to achieve?

--Why some people keep falling back into the same old rut?

--Have you ever been curious if Jeff was any good at baseball?

Read this short discussion of Learned Helplessness and find the answers to these questions and more!

Read it online or download it here:
Learned Helplessness

Am I being hypnotized against my will?!

2010-03-23T01:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been afraid that someone was trying to hypnotize you without your knowing it?

When I go to parties, invariably someone will identify me as "the hypnotist." The response that gets from people is either curiosity or fear. Sure, there are a million ways of influencing a person covertly, better ways than classical hypnosis, but what the uninformed person wonders is whether their free will can be controlled by another person. After all, in the movies, we see a simple post-hypnotic suggestion turning Woody Allen into a zombie cat burglar (Curse of the Jade Scorpion). We see Dracula turning people into slaves with the power of his mind, Rasputin commanding the royal family of Russia with his evil stare alone. The information that most people have is that hypnosis can enslave and zombify, and no one is safe.

As hypnotists, when confronted by a fear of hypnosis, we jump to reassure the person, usually by saying something like:

"There's nothing to be afraid of...all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis...you're totally aware the entire time...your secrets are safe...it's just like reading a fascinating book/watching your favourite movie/daydreaming..."

And all of that is perfectly true. But it's as if we're jumping to defend ourselves, we're not quite addressing the question: "can I be hypnotized without knowing it?"

Well, I decided to take the bull by the horns and address the question directly. Can I be hypnotized without knowing it?
In the most recent PDF, I've put together the way I know of that can influence people hypnotically and how a person might know if such methods might be used on them.

How do I know if I’m being hypnotized against my will?

Some Followup to Easiest Embedded Commands

2010-01-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

I've been getting some great followup to my article on easy embedded commands with a pattern interrupt. Here are a few points that came up that are worth clarifying:

--You won't have much of an effectusing it on a person if they're in a strong emotional state. Most of the time, office workers are in a kind of a neutral haze. It's a mild state, and most of the time, the little conversational pattern interrupt offered in my article is suitable to break that. However, if the person you're interrupting is, say, in a hurry, or strongly preoccupied or focused on something else, even though they may still say "how are you," they're most likely too preoccupied to notice. A stronger emotional state usually calls for a stronger or more personalized break-state. It's all about putting the right shoe on the right foot.

--It's been pointed out that "feeling fantastic" isn't technically a command, rather, the command form is: "feel fantastic." I'm not sure I agree. Grammatically, "feel" is a command while "feeling" may not be, but in practice, "feeling" functions quite well as a command, especially when delivered with proper emphasis and tonality. As a covert technique, "doing" words like feeling, listening, going, etc., are much easier to employ as embedded commands than the grammatical command form of the word. For example, I might want to make someone hungry by saying "talking about ice cream leaves me feeling really hungry now." To get someone to listen to me I might say " ...then the girls started listening to every word I say." and so forth.

--Some non-NLPers have suggested that my explanations of the techniques are not correct or even necessary. I say: fair enough. The definitions aren't important, except to break then down into pieces that are accessible and repeatable by myself and the others who use them. See, it's not just about this particular technique, which is fun, but about using the technique as practice for other applications that might arise. Defining the elements allows one to access and apply them in other areas and achieving repeatable results. The terminology I use comes from NLP, but there may be other ways to do the same thing. What's important is reliable & reproducible results.

That's all for now!
Cheers,
Jeff

Metaphors as Pattern Interrupts

2010-01-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

I'll probably be writing more about this later, but I wanted to get my thoughts down now. In my last post I talked about an easy embedded command practice, and touched on a pattern interrupt that was inherent in the technique.

It got me to thinking about pattern interrupts in general. While I was mentating on just that, I also had a long discussion about metaphors.

Metaphors, as you may know are sort of story-fied version of making a point. A kind of "as if." For example, describing your in laws like "a pack of hungry dogs," is a metaphoric way of getting across some information about the impact they make on you.

The most famous of hypnotic metaphors is probably Erickson's "Tomato Plant." (You can probably find the transcript on the web). Erickson had been faced with a client who was depressed and wasting away due to cancer, but was resistant to direct hypnosis and direct suggestion, so instead, he just told a long story about the way tomato plants grow and thrive. The man's subconscious made the connection between the plant and himself and the suggestions were delivered without any kind of overt commands or hypnosis.

Fables are metaphors: stories that deliver a moral by way of story.

I've been a story teller long before I was a hypnotist, so I like metaphors.

How are metaphors employed? They work when there's some sort of conscious resistance, or when there's lack of focus. Because they're stories, they (should) have vivid sensory descriptors to really capture the audiences attention. They're a natural choice to use on oppositional children, and great in a business context where raw, dry information can leave your audience unmoved. and, yeah, they're kind of covert.

Anyway, here's my point: When you use a good creative metaphor ("steaming piles of paperwork," or "happy tourists popping up like mushrooms"), you engage people's senses and imagination, and when you engage their imagination you're tapping into their subconscious. That necessitates withdrawing from the moment, and that, my friends, is a pattern interrupt.

Go out and play with these things and imagine yourself not like a hypnotist, but like a hawk, soaring effortlessly and freely through the labyrinthine corridors of your audience's mind. ;^)

The Easiest Embedded Commands

2010-01-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

They say, "before you begin to learn Zen, the trees are trees and the flowers are flowers. Then you begin to learn Zen and the trees are no longer trees and the flowers no longer flowers. But when you've learned it all, once again, the trees are trees and the flowers, flowers.

I don't know much about Zen, but I do know a little NLP, and I know that saying is very true for NLP. For example, once upon a time, a greeting was a greeting, and I never thought twice about it. Then I began to learn NLP, and everything became an opportunity to practice a skill, greetings included. The only difference is that with NLP, even after greetings become greetings again, they're still opportunities to practice.

Here are two that I had fun with, and I think you will too.

For decades, I'd pass coworkers in the halls at the places I worked and they'd absently say "How are you," to acknowledge my presence. If I was busy, or unmotivated, or in that office fugue-state that many of us spend our lives in, I'd absently respond "fine, thanks."

That's how it goes in most places, and no one thinks twice about it, but it's a great opportunity that folks like us shouldn't let pass! Here are some ways you can use it to improve your skills, learn about consciousness, and brighten the day for the people around you.

First one: I didn't like the numbness that infects offices and so, just as often, I'd respond with something like "too early to tell!" or "just terrible!" You can imagine that it stopped 'em cold. Invariably, they'd stop, and look up with a confused, blank stare. Of course I delivered the line with a big smile, and when they saw the smile, they got the joke, and it made them smile, too.

What was going on? In NLP lingo this is a break state, a technique that breaks, momentarily, whatever mental state the other person happens to be in. See, no one ever asks "how are you" because they really want to know. It's just an automatic ritualized way to acknowledge another's presence. Since it is a ritual, there's also a ritualized response, "fine, thanks," and as long as the the expected response is given, the pattern is completed with very little conscious awareness.

When you give an unexpected, non-ritualized response, it disrupts the expected pattern, and the person who initiated the sequence is suddenly brought totally into the moment. That's why they stop and look up at you: they need more data so they can adapt their pattern and complete it. This process is instantaneous, and mostly unconscious (instantaneous responses are usually mostly unconscious responses). As soon as they look at you they get the data they need: your radiant smile! It's not the expected response, but still gives them input they need to complete the pattern and get on with their day. The difference is that you've brought their awareness fully into the present, if only for a moment, and in that moment, your smile has also embedded a suggestion for happiness into their psyche.

Cool, huh?

Here's another: When they say/ask "how are you" look 'em in the eye and respond "Feeling fantastic!" Have a warm smile and exaggerated tonality, so you're really projecting "feeling fantastic" with your voice, too.

What's happening: Again, they initiate the ritual pattern with their greeting. You respond using direct but natural eye contact as you say "feeling fantastic!" Notice you DON'T say "I'm feeling fantastic." Rather you want to issue the command to feel fantastic, in a way that should elicit (bring up) feeling really good. It's almost a direct command, but it's embedded in the ritual context of the greeting. It's also issued at the same time as you make eye contact, so that their attention is split between two sensory inputs, and they're less conscious of either. Finally, as they're bringing up the feeling of fantastic-ness, they're looking right at you so the good feeling is anchored to you! It doesn't obviously have much impact at first, but will condition them to feel good when they see you!

If the explanations make this all seem complicated, just ignore them, but please do the techniques and see what thay can do for you! Feel free to post your responses and questions!

You can download this article here:
Easy Embedded Command

OH NO! Stuck in trance for five hours!

2010-01-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

This story is hilarious! From the UK Telegraph:

Trainee hypnotist puts himself in trance using mirror
A newly trained hypnotist accidentally put himself into a trance for five hours after practising in front of a mirror.

Helmut Kichmeier was ''just starring at himself in the mirror, his pupils were tiny'' Helmut Kichmeier, 27, was found by his wife, Joanna, staring into thin air after the bungle in their north London home as they prepared for a tour.

Read it, and check out the picture, here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6936814/Trainee-hypnotist-puts-himself-in-trance-using-mirror.html

As much as I'm entertained by the story, I don't think it's true. The idea that an ordinary person can be "trapped in trance" is largely an old wives tale. All hypnosis boils down into self-hypnosis, so it's not likely that a person couldn't get himself out, whether he got into it himself or not. Also the mirror is kind of a giveaway. It may scream self-hypnosis ti the uninitiated, but using a mirror's pretty rare.

Now it could be that mentally, he was a little bit different and able to get stuck in such a state, or that he was hyper-suggestible. Or he might have been on a drug (I knew a guy who took acid and stared at a clock for seven hours, waiting for the hands to move. He never saw them move, but he still had a great time). It's also possible that, due to his line of work, he was already able to go into a much deeper state of alternate consciousness than most people, but if that were the case, he'd also probably have a greater control to get back out.

True or not, it's a great story and great publicity!

Your age is in your mind!

2010-01-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

Heres' a fascinating article that describes a study in which elderly men were asked to act as if they were 20 years younger, in an environment that was decorated to match. In only a week they had greater dexterity, less arthritis and improved posture and even mental acuity!

I've observed how attitude affects people I know. I've known athletes in their 80s who move like they're in their 30s, and guys in their 20s who look like they're 60.

What do you think? Check out this great Newsweek article by Wray Herbert:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/193197

You were doing NLP before you could talk!

2009-11-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

I always remind beginning NLP enthusiasts that NLP is all based on things we're already doing naturally. It's just that a bunch of very clever people took the time to really observe what was going on and codify it for us to use.

Turns out, even newborns are savvy to calibration and rapport techniques!

Researchers at University of Würzburg in Germany have discovered that newborn babies from different language-speaking groups cry in the same vocal patterns that their parents speak in. So babies form French-speaking households cry in French vocal patterns, and the ones from German speaking parents cry with German tonality. (Ach du libe!) Said one of the researchers: "Newborns are probably highly motivated to imitate their mother's behavior in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding."

In NLP lingo we'd say they're calibrating the mothers tonality and applying rapport techniques to foster the bond.

So easy a child could do it!

Read the full article here:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091105-baby-language.html

Self-Hypnosis Basics

2009-09-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a great way to get started in self-hypnosis. The attached PDF is very basic, but really all you need to get started. It's based on the note from two successive sessions we did on the topic. The first page describes the method to bring yourself into a hypnotic trance, and the second describes a good way to get started in crafting suggestions to yourself.

I recommend practicing the self hypnosis method for at least a week, or until you feel you can bring yourself into a comfortable, relaxed trance state reliably. Take your time! you'll know when you have it because you'll really enjoy the trance state when you achieve it.

Once you've got the self-hypnosis down pat, you can explore crafting suggestions that are right for you. Remember that the suggestions should feel good, and out you into your goal. Don't say "I want to stop smoking," say "I enjoy being a non-smoker." Try one suggestion for about 2-3 weeks, or until you feel good results. You can play with different suggestions until you find the ones that work best for you, and remember, it's different for everybody!

I love feedback, so feel free to share questions, comments and experiences.

Self Hypnosis Basics
(You'll be able to read it, or download it as a PDF or word doc).

True Lies

2009-08-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a great little article on NPR about a new way to approach interrogations to ascertain the truth. Most of the sort of things that are "giveaways" in the movies are just that--dramatic devices. Nervousness, confusion, and so forth aren't proof of lies. In fact, We've all probably experienced liars in the workplace and found thay are typically the smoothest most "believable." How do you tell truth from fiction?

There are a few key elements to pay attention to, particularly for NLP fans:

--Notice how they expand the scope of the interrogation to collect information rather than just elicit a confession (reframe).
--Notice they way they establish a baseline for the truth, so they can calibrate further answers from the suspect (calibration).
--Notice the way they open up the suspect's defense by interrupting the suspect's pattern by making them tell the story in a way other than expected(pattern interrupt).

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111809280

If peole would like me to go into some of the skills presented here and some of my own experiences with truth and liars, send me an email.

Touch communicates emotion!

2009-06-10T01:42:00.000-07:00

OK, most of us probably already knew that touch communicates emotion to some degree, but a researcher at DePauw University has gone ahead and put some scientific validation to it. Matthew J. Hertenstein, Ph.D. has been researching the way we communicate emotion through voice, facial expression and touch, and discovered some amazing things. He's correlated the likelyhood of divorce based on the degree to which the spouses smile in photographs, analyzed the importance of touch to developing children and how they pick up emotionsal reactions from adults, and most interesting, is discovering to what degree we can interperet a person's emotions purely by thier touch!

Check out his site:

http://www.depauw.edu/learn/lab/media/

VIDEOS!

2009-06-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

It's about time!
I've done hypnosis in every conceivable place: bars, restaurants, streets, bookstores... But I've never done it on video, but I've been wanting to. Well, I finally did it. Started to, anyway. We had some technical difficulties with the sound the first time 'round. I'm looking forward to doing a lot more--I had a great time, and everybody I worked with really enjoyed it and felt great. Please check 'em out and tell me what you think.

For you technically minded hypnotists: I used a very short and direct approach and equally short direct pretalk (the approach actually took longer!), a fairly quick induction, about a minute's deepeners, 2-3 fractionations, a very general suggestion to feel great and relaxed and so forth, and brought them back, and talked about the experience with them for a few minutes after. The entire experience averaged about six minutes each.

Wild animals

2009-05-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

We've all been attacked by them. It's the "8 Toxic personalities to avoid" by Brett Blumenthal. Check it out:

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/8-toxic-personalities-to-avoid-461078/?posted=1

Three firm handshakes

2009-05-18T01:28:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with a hypnotist-friend of mine the other day. The conversation got around to handshake inductions and suddenly we couldn’t agree on anything—not even the principles that made it work. Turns out, we were talking about different
handshake inductions!

There are three main handshake inductions that I know of and have used, and each works according to different principles. They’re all worth getting to know and practicing frequently. In the attached document I've put down my own understanding of them, based on my experience, how I label them, and how they work.

Here they are (in a sort of historical order):
Elman’s Handshake Induction
Erickson’s Handshake Induction
Bandler’s Handshake Induction
Let’s take a closer look…

Read the whole thing by clicking here (You'll be able to read it online, or download it as a PDF or word doc).

Do we have a subconscious mind?

2009-03-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

As a hypnotist, I spend a lot of time working on the border between the conscious and subconscious mind. So much so, that I often forget that when I talk to someone about their "subconscious mind" that they may not have an entirely clear idea of what it is. Some folks have even wondered whether it exists at all. If you dive into it from the diving board of the Internet, you'll quickly find yourself swamped with all sorts of fascinating lore about it's mysterious powers, and it's place in mythology and philosophy. Not as easy to ferret out the useful, factual, accessible skinny on the other part of the mind. In the attached essay, you'll find my take on it. I hope it will clarify a few things. At the same time, I think that it will be useful to anyone coming from either a scientific point of view or a mystical one. (I may go back and revise this again, since I'm not sure I've completely hit the mark I aimed for. Please don't hesitate to give me feedback and questions. It'll help me make it a better essay!).

Read the whole thing by clicking here (You'll be able to read it online, or download it as a PDF or word doc).

Sizzling conversation now! (Conversational State Elicitation)

2009-02-20T01:39:00.000-08:00

Make your conversations fascinating by using your subjects' own feelings! Plenty of exercises & experiments for you to go out and try. Don't take my word for it--it works!

The Question, the Hook...
Ever get stuck in a dry conversation that turned into a “job interview?” No feeling of connection, no enthusiasm, and you just couldn’t get that spark? Ever have a great story or a routine, but your audience was just unreceptive? No connection?

People usually feel a connection when they’re both experiencing similar emotional states.

Think about it. When someone “really gets into” a TV show they usually feel a connection with their favorite character. A great song makes someone feel a connection to the singer, and people in a theater can feel so connected to the hero that they forget where they are—as long as the emotional state is strong.
Here’s a really easy little conversational technique to jumpstart the momentum.

Read the whole thing by clicking here! (You'll be able to read it online, or download it as a PDF or word doc).

Unsinkable Anchors!

2009-02-16T23:14:00.000-08:00

AN EASY INTRO TO THE OBSCURE ART OF ANCHORING

Here’s a quick follow up to our last meet-up on the basic "how-to" of anchoring techniques.

“Anchoring” is one of the most commonly found topics in NLP literature. It’s been studied and codified to the point that it seems like a very complicated and esoteric thing, and you can certainly make a study of it. But at it’s heart, it’s pretty easy.

An anchor is a thing (a word, a touch a gesture or a sound) that triggers an emotion, a memory of a feeling.

Did you ever hear a song on the radio that reminded you of a time, a place or a feeling form your past? Is there a food that reminds you of something from your past? Have you ever seen or heard anything that made you think or feel anything else? That’s what anchoring is all about. It’s simply creating an association in the subconscious mind.

Read the whole thing by clicking here! (You'll be able to read it online, or download it as a PDF or word doc).

Welcome to Success Work!

2009-02-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the blog for my Hypnosis & NLP practice. I've set this blog up to share information, experience and techniques with clients, friends and fellow hypnotists. I'm also attaching some downloadable files of techniques that anyone can use in everyday life. Expect a lot more content in the near future, including MP3s and maybe even some cool videos.

I'm also one of the co-organizers of the NLP, Hypnosis and Coaching Meetup group in NYC (click on the link on the left). We've been meeting for several years now, and are open to people of all skill levels. The accent is on practice, and coming away with material you can begin to apply immediately in real life. Hope to see you there!