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This is the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast, session number 221 Roger Moore on Hypnosis for dementia. Welcome to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast with Jason Lynette, your professional resource for hypnosis training and outstanding business success. Here’s your host, Jason Lynette. Get ready for an incredibly inspiring conversation.
Hey, it’s Jason Lynette here and welcoming. Your more to the program and it’s about time. Here we go. About five years into the program, and I’ve known if Roger’s work for many more years than five years, and you’re gonna hear an amazing conversation here, which uh, includes everything from his journey, losing 100 pounds to the mindset of people always being in trance to the segment.
I wanted to spend an hour inside of, which was the week he spent with Virginia Satir and then bringing, Full circle to an incredible conversation about doing work, supporting those people going through Alzheimer’s or dementia, and not just them, but also their family members as well. So just some incredible takeaways and some really important, uh, thoughts in terms of rethinking how it is we support people, whether it’s, you know, the standard such as weight loss or working with folks who are going through cancer treatments, as well as, of course, these categories of ongoing memory loss.
The work that we can do to actually support along the way. So this is an incredible conversation, which I know is already having me thinking about some of the clients that I’ve got coming in, in the coming weeks, and some strategies to begin to share with them and really begin to inspire some incredible change.
If you head over to the show [email protected] Of course, I’m gonna link over to Roger’s websites as well as specifically to his post-conference offering that’s happening this year at Hypno Thoughts Live 2019 in Vegas. Simply a class called Hypnosis for Dementia, which shares the title of this podcast session too.
And while you’re online, check out neurolinguistic. Business. This is actually the two day post convention offering that I’m doing right after Roger’s class at Hypno Thoughts Live 2019 Neurolinguistic Business. The details are [email protected] slash nlp. Biz. This is where we’re going to be applying the principles of neurolinguistic programming to not just increase the business flow of our practices and our courses and our product sales, but also you’re gonna see that how would you heighten the business aspect of what you do.
You actually can heighten the results of what you do with people as well. Learn more by heading over to work smart hypnosis.com/nlp. Biz. And with that, let’s jump directly into this inspiring conversation. Here we go with episode number 221 Roger Moore on hypnosis for dementia.
It was in the late 1960s and I was working in a, uh, drug crises hotline, uh, all night crises hotline, uh, often overdoses. Suicidal folks and, and the phone wasn’t ringing. It was about 2:00 AM and I was bored and laying on the desk was, uh, a book about hypnosis and I started reading it and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Yeah. Do you remember what book that was? You know, I wish I knew. I have no idea. Absolutely no clue. Not a bit. Do you remember any themes of it? Like what kind of ideas was it present? Yeah, it talked, it was what, what I remember of it. Um, and I wish I had a clue what it was. It was pretty old school. I talked about, you know, trans steps and some nam and it talked, it talked about using pendulums and going deeper and deeper and, and, um, I, I mean, that was my, uh, initial intro.
Um, and, um, come a long way since then. But, uh, yeah, it was, what I remember of it was, was really old school. Yeah, and I love that here. You were in a different career path and there’s many people out there who are kind of at that border of, here’s something they’re curious about. Here’s something they’re already doing.
What, What skills would you say came from that previous career and leading into the hypnosis? Well, that wasn’t a career. I was a volunteer there, and I was still in high school or Oh wow. Senior and senior in high school, and. From there, uh, I went to, uh, well, first Bethel College in, in St. Paul and, and to, uh, study, uh, social work and, and ended up at uw, or excuse me, University of Minnesota, uh, in the criminal justice department.
and left there very cynical , and started working with, uh, children and adults with, uh, developmental disabilities and running residential and day programs. And then I, while I was doing that, Started, uh, tra my, uh, chemical dependency training, um, at St. Mary’s Hospital, uh, part of Hazleton and, and the Verne Johnson Institute.
And there I got to, uh, spend a week with Virginia Sater. Oh wow. Yeah. And, um, I had no clue. I was at the feet of a master, the feet of God. Um, she was the most beautiful, awesome woman. and, um, and that really, even though we didn’t talk about hypnosis formally, it just kind of all started clicking for me. And the way that she talked and the, and the way that she related to people and, and the way she would, you know, mix families up and move people around in the room and, and change positions.
It, it was just her, her skills were, were phenomenal and, and, and she was just masterful. . Yeah. I gotta ask, is there a story of like a specific moment that stands out from what you learned from spending time with her? I remember there was a family that, um, was in crises and, and dad was alcoholic and he was very, uh, blaming of, of the family and it was all their fault.
Mm-hmm. and he had. Uh, or Virginia had, uh, he and his seven year old daughter switch chairs in the room. That’s all she did was switch positions of where they were seated, and it was like night and day. Um, in the change in him, uh, the change in perspective. and that’s when he broke down and when progress started being being made and she didn’t have him change roles or anything like that, she just interrupted him and asked him to trade places with her.
And the, the whole music changed. It was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. Are there any specific ins, inspirations that have come from that to the work you do nowadays? You know, there are, I don’t do so much with, with couples anymore. Mm-hmm. , Um, I have a master’s in married family therapy.
When I was doing, you know, heavily into relationship counseling, uh, I would have people sometimes just switch chairs. In the middle of a session or conversations, and not about changing roles, but I’ve just had them change chairs and, and watch the dynamics change, uh, between the couple. Recently I had a, uh, a husband and wife come in.
Uh, she has a, a rare form of stage four cancer and. She wanted him in the, in the room with her. And he kept interrupting and kept domineering. And I was real close to throwing him out, and, and, um, I just thought, Okay, let’s try this. And I said, Excuse me, would the two of you change chairs? And they looked at me kind of weird, and he said, Seriously?
And I said, Yeah, please. And he never said a word after that. He let her, I’d ask a question and she was allowed to answer. Whereas up until then, I’d ask her a question, he’d start talking, and that lasted, I let it run about 10 minutes that way into the session. And then that’s when I had him change chairs.
Um, it was like, Okay, he’s not gonna shut up. This is gonna continue. Uh, so something has to happen here in order for, for this to be her session, not his. Yeah. Uh, and then since then, she’s been in the room by herself. He’s, he’s never, never as asked, never said a word. I don’t know what, what she might have said to him, but, um, He waits in the lobby.
Mm-hmm. , excuse me. You know that aspect of switching positions, that’s something I read about in one of her books early on and it, it’s where sometimes, and I think most people would understand what I mean by this. You’re working with a client and it seems like they’re observing the process rather than in the process.
And that has been my go-to solution now for years. Just to simply say, you know, move to this chair now, or simply stand up. Just that, that sense of movement interrupts that passive attitude and now brings them fully into the process without having to scold, without having to kick someone out of the room perhaps, uh, but in a very organic way.
It just automatically shifts that perspective. That’s beautiful. Yeah, and when I’m often, when I’m working with kids, Um, they start out in a chair and, and, um, if that’s not going real well, uh, I sit down on the floor and have ’em come sit down the floor with me and then we’re in business. Yeah. Outstanding.
Outstanding. So then from there, after spending that time with Virginia Siter, what were those next steps for you in terms of getting things up and. . Well, I continued working in residential and day programs, uh, for lot of years and, and, uh, both in Minnesota and then on, I was the executive director of, uh, the AKA Maui, um, when, when we lived on Maui and what I did there with people that were profoundly, severely retarded.
Uh, that was a terminology back then, uh, with people that, uh, with severe autism, often I’d end up, you know, if they were rocking or stemming I’d, I’d often would stand behind them or beside them with just my hands on, on their back or, or on their, um, shoulder, or sometimes, you know, maybe if it was appropriate to hold their hand and would talk soft.
and or sometimes would hum if they were seeing a song or had a song, then I’d sing with them and. Get them to that place of where they could calm down and start creating some comfort, some peace within themselves, stop the, the, the stimulation and, uh, you know, the, the self injuries part of it anyway.
Mm-hmm. and, and, and I would teach TA staff how to do this of, I never ever talked about hypnosis or anything there, but just about talking softly, slowing the breath. Slowing movements with them leading and pacing. Um, so that was that experience. And, and then I went on to get my master’s in married family therapy.
And um, and also about the same time actually did my formal certification. as a clinical hypnotherapist, cuz up until then I’d just been reading. And, uh, that was Al Krasner, uh, American Board of Hypnotherapy and, uh, and then followed up with Tofa Morrison, Christopher Morrison, who I used to be a, a major in the field years ago.
And, um, it was, um, it was actually in one of Topfers uh, trainings. That he volunteer or he asked for a volunteer for a weight loss subject. And I thought, Okay, sure, I’ll do that. And and it was very much with the attitude of, Yeah, right? Cuz I dunno if you, you know who Topfer was, but he was kind like Scott Sandlin when I first met him.
Tofa was maybe 2021 and, and teaching this class. And I thought, what’s this kid know? And, um, At the time, I weighed 260 pounds and, and I fully believed in hypnosis. I just knew that nothing was gonna work for me and my weight. And, um, went up there, sat there, went through it, forgot about it, but I noticed two things.
There were times that I would stop eating and have food left on my plate. and there were times that I, um, uh, uh, took me longer to eat than, than it did my wife. I always inhaled my foot , and so I set up several more sessions with Topfer and lost a hundred and, and, uh, 20 pounds and capped it off for almost 26 years.
Yeah. And I love to, to bounce around throughout this, cuz I know you’ve got the book Becoming Slender for Life, you’re known for weight loss programs. If you had to kind of rewind back, what would you say that click was for you? That kind of brought it full circle to go, Yeah, this is happening now. It was.
Yeah. Well, I always talk about that we’re always in trance. We’re never not. Yes. And, and my whole food trance was, food was comfort. There was a fear of being hungry. Oh, I might get hungry so I better eat now. Uh, and I always had to clean my plate. And I always look for the food that had the most fat, most salt, and most, most sugar in it.
Um, and it, I went from that to. . Being in control of, of myself and my food choices and realizing I’m not hungry. I’m depressed, I’m bored, I’m lonely, I’m angry. I am whatever I’m feeling, but this is not about food. I don’t need to eat now. And and for me it was that whole sense of I’m in control. Yeah. Versus food having control.
And so it was me learning how to be in control of me. And, and yeah. And how has that, how has that inspired how you help your clients? I, I often talk about that and, and I wrote about my book too, you know, if Cuz I, I do a lot of work with, uh, in the religious communi and, and fundamentalist communities and, and often have ministers of a variety of face as, as clients.
And there’s that whole thing of being, you know, hypnosis and being controlled by the devil. And, and I just keep pointing out to ’em, Wait a. You know, Lyne is a sin. So, which is more sinful. You being in control of you and making healthy choices and treating your body as a temple of God, or letting Satan have control and feeding Dairy Queen and McDonald’s hamburgers.
Mm-hmm. and those, um, The, the light comes on then of, wait a minute, you know, who is in control here and what am I doing to my body? And um, uh, so it is just empowering people to make the choices they want for themselves versus what they think they have to make or should make, or what they’re used to. Yeah.
Outstanding. Outstanding. And, and I’m curious to ask this at times, cuz some people get more specific in terms of what actions to take, what things to make use of, and the weight loss process. Some are entirely eliciting it from the client. What, what tends to be your approach for that? Well, I’m very much whole plant based food.
Yes. And um, I will not work with somebody that wants to do Atkins or keto or I’m just very upfront about. Uh, most of my clients are not vegan. Um, but they certainly increase the amount of vegetables and whole grains that they’re eating and decrease the amount of meat and dairy. Um, and, um, And that’s, to me is what’s most important is to stop being the standard American diet at the foods that, that’s making people fat and sick.
And, uh, but if somebody, uh, I turned somebody down the other day who was really disappointed, um, you know, she, she. Had heard about me, had, um, uh, a relative had referred her to me, but she was bound and determined that she was gonna do keto. And I said, I’m not your guy. I cannot support you in that. And, and I, Sorry, I, I won’t do that.
Well, I mean a lot of that comes down to as well, knowing, knowing what you work well with. But also I can hear, you know, some of the passion behind that statement as to this is what’s worked so well for you. This is what so much research now supports. And, you know, when you’re with that person, how, how is that usually handled in terms of, you know, this is the program, this is the plan we’re gonna be addressing.
I’m not, What do you mean? How’s it handled? But Right. Is it, is that part of, let’s call it the sales process, is that part of the, uh, conversation in advance? It’s, it’s part of, I don’t really sell, Um, I’ve never, I’ve never had to sell. Um, and I’ve actually pretty much basically refused to sell. But I do offer, uh, with weight loss.
Uh, uh, generally 60 to a 90 minute, uh, no charge consultation. It’s pretty in depth with the weight loss. And in that process, uh, I do tell them very clearly, um, what, what the eating strategy, uh, that I will be pushing them to, to use, uh, and describe it, uh, to them that it’s whole plant based foods and, um, You know, often I, I’ve had more of a problem of people sitting there.
Will you just hurry up and take my money without listening? , yes, and no, I won’t. , uh, I want you to buy into this, uh, I don’t want to be just one more weight loss failure. You know, we, you’re, you are gonna have to show up and do your part and, and here’s what, what is expected of you. And, um, so when, when. In doing that, people very clearly hear that, uh, their hamburgers and their ice cream and their butter and cheese is, is not gonna be part of their daily fair anymore.
Mm-hmm. , I mean, it’s the beauty of just the old statement. There’s no change without change. Exactly. Yeah. And, and, you know, people will, will often talk about, Well, that seems radical. well to me, get insulin shots are are radical or having a foot amputated because the diabetes is radical. Having open heart surgery Bec is, is radical when most of those diseases are reversible and, and certainly preventable.
Uh, with, with dietary change. . Yeah. Yeah. So then at what point did the, did the hypnosis actually take over at one point in terms of the career path, or what was that transition? Well, um, I, uh, my, my wife and I in February, moved from Bainbridge Island where we lived for 22 years to, uh, Palm Desert. Big, big change in, in lots of ways.
Yes. And, um, I decided that I was only going to focus on medical hypnosis and, and my practice has, has expanded far beyond just weight loss. Um, it’s actually weight loss has become a fairly small piece of my practice now. Uh, I mostly am working with cancer and autoimmune disease and dementia and chronic pain.
Um, but, um, And, and then being here in California, even though my, my master’s in married family therapy is in California and I did all my, my 3000 hours, uh, in California, I’d still have to reset, uh, for the test, uh, to be, uh, an MFT in California. And at this point in my life, it’s like, nah, not interested.
And so I’m. Only doing hypnosis now. Yeah. Outstanding. So I’ve, I’ve gotta talk about the medical side of things then. That is, is there a specific approach to that? Is there a specific mindset that seems to be an area that some would even, some would even be afraid of helping? Well, you know, I, I’m a. Over the years, I’ve gotten simpler and simpler in my approach and, and less and less gimmicky.
Yes. Um, I teach people very simple, very easy self hypnosis skills. I teach them simple, easy stress reduction tools. I teach them simple, easy ways of reducing and, and dialing back, uh, discomfort, increasing comfort. And, and also really focus more from a neuroplasticity standpoint of memorizing joy and, and, you know, really anchoring joy in their life and feeling that versus, Oh my God, I hurt so bad today, or, or, life sucks.
And, um, and, and also no matter how bad things are that right now, in this moment, , no matter how much pain they’re in right now, in this moment, they’re still okay. And when people can, can find that, that place of being mindful and yeah, this hurts, but you know, I’m okay. , it’s amazing the transformation that occurs in, in how the, the comfort level increases.
Yeah. Because they’re no longer focused on not being okay. They’re no longer focused on, on, on the discomfort. Well, I mean, that, that beautifully connects back to the dialogue about nutrition that, you know, It, it begins with, here’s the things you’re going to enjoy more of. Here’s those things that you’re gonna fill the body up more with that, give your body nourishment and rather than fill the body up with that signal of pain, instead, here are the signals you could become more aware of and heighten for yourself.
You know, and, and years ago, um, I would give people a daily tracking sheet and have them list their symptoms. And would have them rank the level of discomfort on a daily basis for those symptoms. And, uh, actually in large part, uh, due to Kelly Woods, um, and Hope Coaching went, Oh, , let’s, let’s change this.
Yeah. And I still give ’em a daily tracking. But I now have them track their level of comfort and each week bring in showing me that, you know, their level of comfort, it might have only increased by a half, uh, number this week. But they experienced more comfort than they did the week before and over, you know, three, four weeks.
It’s amazing to see those numbers go up and, and the smile on people’s faces when they come in. And, and sometimes without those, uh, daily tracking sheets, people aren’t aware. of the changes they’ve made. Yeah. And, and I hang onto the sheets. So when somebody says, Well, I don’t think, you know, they hand me their sheets for the week and, and they’ll sometimes say, I don’t feel like I’ve come very far.
And I go, Well, really, how you know here, you’re all week long, you’ve been pretty much at a six here and, and three weeks ago you were at a two. , they go really . And, and that helps ’em shift and really anchor in that yes, they are improving, they are getting better. Yeah. And, um, and just, just stay focused on, on wellness and, and, you know, Herbert Benson and remembered wellness and, and remembering a time in their life when, when they felt healthy, when they felt.
Oh, I mean, so much of that I’m sure begins with breaking out of the binary, breaking out of the, I’m either in pain or I’m not. I’m either overweight or I’m not, and instead setting things in motion. Right. And, and making, and taking the, the judgment out of it. Accepting, Yeah. That, uh, okay. I have discomfort.
Isn’t that interesting? Mm-hmm. and even that little shift of just the acknowledgement of it existence. Mm-hmm. rather than making it wrong and bad will will let the air outta the balloon will, will ease that, that tension. . So you mentioned a few simple self hypnosis techniques, like what’s an example of something you’d often share?
Well, I, back in long time ago, learned Jerry kinds, um, light switch self hypnosis. Oh yes. Yeah. And so I teach a version of that and teach people that yeah, in one minute you actually can get quite relaxed. And also, uh, get some, you know, make some changes. You know, focus on, on being calm and relaxed versus upset and angry.
And then when they have the, the luxury of, of more time, you know, three minutes or five minutes or 20 minutes, they can use the same technique. They just don’t have to rush back. But they’re sitting in the doctor’s office and about to go in for an MRI and, and they’re feeling claustrophobic. They have time to do a minute.
They might not get a chance to listen to Orange was for 27 minutes, although a lot of are places, um, actually have Orange was in their queue. Uh, but, um, um, it’s, it’s, they, they can learn to do it very quickly on their own. Yeah. So you mentioned, I love the statement you said earlier about not having to advertise and purposefully not selling.
Where, where are most of these people finding you nowadays? Well, you know, I. Came down here to, to Palm Desert and, and Seattle. I had gotten very lazy. I hadn’t marketed in, in years. You know, I do a daily blog post, but, uh, I just had not done any marketing. I didn’t have to, I was all word of mouth referral and, and just, you know, people find, find my websites.
So come down here and, and, you know, four months ago or February, so I guess, yeah, four months ago and I had an office. But I really didn’t, you know, I was busy unpacking and settling in and, and it was really the, uh, late March, early April before I really started putting myself out there and started going to Chamber of Commerce meetings.
Yeah, I do two breakfasts a month and, uh, or excuse me, one breakfast a month, two lunches a month, and then if perhaps an after hours, if there is. Uh, that has been a huge source of referrals. And then there’s, um, a Desert Health, which is a, a very well done 32 page newspaper and full color, um, here that comes out every other month in the valley.
Uh, my first article up here, there on May 1st, I’m working on another one. Let’s do in the 15th here in a couple days. Uh, for, for July one. And, um, or no, August one, I guess it is June. Yeah. Must, Yeah. July one. Oh. Anyway, um, It’s been through those contacts and then, uh, through the Lucy Kche Cancer Center at Eisenhower and, uh, the Desert Regional Cancer Center.
Going in and meeting the, the support care staff, the oncologist, and that’s where the referrals are coming. Yeah. And which I love that because just simply getting out there and educating the public is mostly what’s doing it for you. Absolutely. Yeah. That and then the other is the Alzheimer’s organization.
Yeah. I really expected I’d be doing a whole lot more footwork, uh, you know, the shoe leather marketing of going door to door. I haven’t had. . Mm-hmm. , Um, you know, I’m actually struggling trying not to work more than I want to right now, and which is a nice problem to have. It’s a good problem to have. It is.
It’s, it’s, and and there’s that temptation of. Of trying to squeeze people in. Oh, I suppose I could work on Friday or Monday. I only wanna work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and, and you know, so I end up scheduling people, you know, for the first session three weeks from now. And I never, never really thought I’d be at that point in, in, in a couple months.
Yeah. So chat with me a bit about the support work where people with Alzheimer’s, and also I know you work with dementia. Yes, Yes. So, Uh, I first started getting involved in, in working with, with Alzheimer’s. It was, uh, about 20, 21 years ago, somewhere in there, um, on Main Bridge Island. Uh, working out in the gym.
One morning a man came up to me and, and said, Can you help my mother? And I said, I don’t know what’s going on. Well, she has Alzheimer’s and she’s just restless and agitated and freaked out and screams all the time and, and, um, can, can hypnosis help her? And I looked and I says, I have no idea. And I said, But you know what, I’m curious.
I’d be happy to meet with her and see. And so I ended up, uh, scheduling going to her home and, uh, her son had, this man had moved in with her and, and it was, um, uh, he and a care, a caregiver that they had hired that was there and the woman. and went in the bedroom and, and, um, the two of them were, there was the four of us in the room and just started talking to her and, nd, you know, she had no idea who I was and asked my name about 10 times.
And, and, uh, I asked her if, if I could touch her, and I, I was sitting next to her bed and I said, Would it be okay if I just reached over and, and laid my, my hands on your. and she held out her hand. So I ended up putting one hand in her hand and, and my other hand on her arm and just started talking real softly to her.
And, and I had also, uh, prearranged in talking to the son, asked him that if I nodded at him, would he start playing her favorite music? And so I noded at him and he turned on the tape recorder and started playing some big band songs, and I just talked really softly to her and she just, you could just see the, her whole body relax and she kind of dozed off to sleep.
And I kept talking and, and then, um, I just sat there silently for a little while, while the music played. And, and then I chatted with the, the son and, and the caregiver. And I finally left and two days later I got a phone call from the son saying, it’s a miracle. And they said, What ? And he said, She has not slept this well.
she has not, uh, been this peaceful in months. Can you come back? Yeah. And that was my first introduction at absolutely no clue. Uh, didn’t, no idea what I was doing other than talking softly and helping her relax. And, um, she, I, I saw her several more times in her home, probably four times maybe, and she passed.
Uh, I don’t know, about five months after I first met her. Um, but um, that was really what it was all about, was just looking for that relaxation. Mm-hmm. , I started doing the research and, and I was in 2008, there was this study that appeared out of England. Uh, with Dr. Dan Nightingale, who’s now in Arizona, and um, about, uh, he did his doctorate on, um, hypnosis in, in Alzheimer’s, in in dementia.
and I’ve studied with Dr. Dan. He’s actually become a good friend. Um, and, um, he and I talk from time to time and or text back and forth and, and, uh, so that was my, my training and experience in, in working with dementia and Alzheimer’s is then starting once in a while, sometimes people will come to my office.
I’ve actually met with people online of. Um, had a, a woman in, in France whose daughter would sit on the bed with the laptop and, um, and I’d talked to the two of them, uh, over Adobe Connect. I can only think of maybe one time over the years where I did not have a family member or caregiver in the room with me because so much of the work.
Uh, is carried on after I leave. Mm-hmm. , and, and it’s teaching, you know, the relaxation skills to, to the caregiver, the family member, whoever’s gonna be primarily there with them to, to carry it on and also distress. The importance of the recordings that I now leave and leaving recordings that, you know, things like orange was awesome that, that people can listen to.
Um, you know. Uh, throughout the day or day in and day out type of, of recordings to help them get to that place of, of relaxation. And, and what’s been shown according to the studies is that, and, and then the feedback that I receive. As people have, uh, do have better memory, uh, are remembering family members better, um, wow.
Yeah, that they’re doing better with their, um, ADLs, their, their daily living skills, you know, with teeth brushing and face washing, those types of things. Um, with, with eating, uh, eating has improved and, um, so far no cure. Um, I don’t worry about cure. Uh, my goal. To make every moment they have left the most comfortable and, and, and the best moment it can be.
Yeah. It’s beautiful. And I love especially the, the aspect of, you know, helping the family members as well. Cuz that’s something that’s gonna be difficult for everybody involved. Of course. Well, that and, and just, um, often I’m, I’m talking with the caregiver or family member, uh, in front of, um, the, the primary client.
and engaging the client in the conversation so we’re not just talking about them, but Right. Yes. You’re still here in the room and you’re still part of us, and, and we acknowledge that and, but that, that whole concept of, remember, I can’t remember mm-hmm. and, and learning how to be okay with answering the same question 10 times in 10 minutes.
Or, um, having somebody, you know, take two bites of their oatmeal and stop eating and picking up the bowl and, you know, and then the caregiver picking up the bowl, leaving the room, coming back in the room with the bowl, setting it down, having ’em take two more bites of oatmeal and stop and, and just keep going that process until the bowl oatmeal is eaten.
Cause you know, one of the big problems is nourishing people with, with. Dementia with Alzheimer’s is getting them to eat. And, um, but you know, you take the food outta the room, you come back in, it’s the whole new experience, whole new meal. Right. Which, which unfortunately yet in some ways, fortunately they don’t have those skills yet.
They don’t have those experiences. So I love that there’s the educational aspect that goes along with that. Right. Yeah. Cause people don’t know that they, they, I have no idea. Um, and, and they just get frustrated and start, you know, getting the, per the, the person, the, the client more agitated, you know, creating more stress over, you’ve gotta eat.
Yeah. And curious about the actual work inside of that. When you mentioned a recording, what does that typically consist of? Well, I, I dunno if you’re, I’ve mentioned Orange Blossom several times. Orange Blossom is a, um, Free 27 minute, uh, recording that actually originated from Robert Otto. Hmm. And, um, I’d used, I’d learned it originally from him and had used it for a number of years.
And then I started getting requests from to re, you know, for recordings of it. And, and I asked Bob if I could record it and he graciously gave me permission. Some ways I wish I would’ve charged a dollar for it, cuz it’s had over 107,000 downloads that I know of. . Yeah. Um, but, um, and people share it all the time, so who knows how many of it’s actually had, But that’s one of the primary recordings.
And then, Relaxation recordings, uh, that I have. Um, I’ll leave those with people, uh, with dementia. I’ve never ever talked. Um, I was thing about this the other day and I’ve never, ever given suggestions about, uh, Memory recall or you’ll remember better. It’s just always been about relaxation and feeling comfort knee in the body.
Mm-hmm. and in, in the mind. And that’s been the whole focus. Yeah. Which I can imagine by increasing that quality of life, by increasing that enjoyment of life, that um, perhaps I think is the best we could say, perhaps those symptoms are slowing down, or at least the quality of life is absolutely improving.
Exactly. Yeah. There was, um, this came up in. Uh, I C B C H conversation on, on Facebook the other day, um, where I posted, you know, the study from Dr. Dan Nightingale and, and somebody asked why after nine months did the improvements disappear. And while the study lasted nine months, Dr. Dan worked with the people during that period and after that, Nobody, they no longer had hypnosis and there were no recordings for them to listen to.
And in the follow up studies, the improvements had disappeared. Mm-hmm. . Um, so as long as, you know, it appears that as long as, as people are getting that relaxation, um, the, the improvement, um, continues and, and, uh, is, is lasting. Beautiful. Beautiful. So, uh, I, I know you’ve got a training coming up about this at Hypno Thoughts, correct?
Yes. It’s the Monday after Hypno thoughts. It’s a full day training and it’s gonna be about how to work with people who have dementia in Alzheimer’s and, and we’re gonna. You know, talk, uh, somewhat about what Alzheimer’s is and, and dementia, the differences, and, uh, but also how to work with people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and also their family members or caregivers, and how to sup, provide that hypnosis support and, and stress reduction support, uh, for, for caregivers, which I, I love.
So far, the through line has been a lot of the same themes that we work with this category. That’s a lot of working with those cancer patients. That’s a lot of, in addition to the nutrition, a lot of getting someone to the right mindset where now the weight loss is actually happening and how much all of this overlaps in a beautiful way.
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And. Yeah, I will. With somebody with, uh, I had a client in on Thursday with, uh, crps, Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. Mm-hmm. and got him, Well, first I let him talk about his pain for a little bit, and, and I never, you know, I, I, maybe 10 minutes max, just long enough to get, for me to get the gist of.
The story and what it is they’re going through and, and the background on it. And then I cut ’em off. I go, Okay, I know you know your story and you have it memorized and I really don’t need to know it, and I don’t want you fired while I the same neurons anymore. Uh, so no more about your story. Um, and um, and I have ’em start talking about the most happiest, joyful time in their life.
And, um, and he started talking about when he first, or, or about when, when at, it was at their wedding. He, he and his husband’s wedding and dancing at their wedding. And the people were there and the party and, and the whole guy was glowing. And, and I said, Stop. I said, Tell me about your level of, of comfort now.
When he came in the door, uh, his level of discomfort was a nine. And, and then when we switched around, his level of comfort was at a one. And at that point when he was talking about dancing at the wedding with his husband, it was at his level of comfort was a 10. Mm-hmm. . And I said, Okay. So now you see how you just did that and how quickly you did that.
That’s what’s possible. And we wanna make that lasting and long term and, and you learn how to do this on your own and. Back to the dementia. I wouldn’t necessarily go about it that way, but I would get, uh, as much as I can, either through pictures or any stories, any way of triggering memories. Often it’s, uh, asking people to put on, uh, favorite music.
Yeah. What, what music does, does this person love and enjoy? And that will take him back to a time of, of when they’re happy and joyful. And, um, and, uh, a man recently, what I did with him, uh, he was, um, uh, you know, was the, like the late fifties, you know, the. Fun, rock and roll stuff and, and the blues and, and, and he was just swaying and giggling and, and I took his left hand and I put it on his chest and just had him hold his hand there and, and he could just feel his whole body soften and relax acts and, and I told the, the son that was with him, I said, uh, I said, Just, you came in with him and, and you know, How tense he was, and I had his, his son put his hand there and hold his hand.
They said, no. Notice the difference in his body. And his, his son was just blown away by the, the change by those simple little techniques. So I’m curious to hear your theory on this, cuz I’ve heard, well I’ve taught that strategy at times to others about just getting them to run that mental pattern once again.
Remember to remember what that feeling once was, whether it’s movement, whether it’s dance, Here’s, here’s someone I’m just working with recently that had gone through throat cancer. And having him tell the story of what it was like when he was singing was exciting. Everything, again, bringing back the comfort, bringing back the remember to wellness.
Yeah. Which I, I always get this question from students and I have my stock answer. I’m sure yours may be better , which is, wouldn’t that depress them? Wouldn’t that remind them what they can’t do anymore? I’ve never ever had that happen. Exactly. Yeah. That’s my answer too. Yeah. No. Um, why, why do you think, why do you think that?
Well, it’s all, it’s all memory, you know? Yeah. And we have a choice of our memories. and we can either, I think remember how much we, we hurt and, and suffer, or we can, you know, that often will point out to him, Look, you’re sitting here in my office and you know, you’re not dancing and you can either focus on that, you can’t dance, or you can focus on remembering.
What it was like to dance. Either way, it’s your memory, it’s your imagination. Uh, you can be driving down the road and stuck on the freeway and traffic and be late for a meeting and, uh, stress out and freak out and be all upset and show up late for your meeting. Stressed. or you can sit back, relax, enjoy the time of sitting still, and show up for your lady.
Show up late for your meeting. Relaxed. Either way, you’re gonna be late. Mm-hmm. , . And so here you have a choice. You wanna be stressed about it or relaxed about it. Here in my office, you have a choice. Do you wanna be, uh, remembering the happy times and the good times, or do you wanna be sad and depressed?
And most people, Consciously will choose, um, the joy and the happiness. But I also point out to ’em that often their body is addicted to, you know, to the. Uh, chemicals of, of depression and anxiety and, and it’s gonna feel wonky and weird. There’s gonna be that period of withdrawal, but I’m supposed to be depressed now, or I’m supposed to be anxious now and, and make that okay too, That they have that wonkiness.
It’s, it’s okay to be, to feel weird about feeling good. Mm-hmm. . . Beautiful. Beautiful. So we’ll link over in the show [email protected] over to your websites as well as the upcoming, uh, training that’s happening post-conference at Hypno Thoughts Live. Any, any final thoughts to share with the listeners out there?
I, I would just encourage people to, um, be open to the possibilities of what. Hypnosis can do for people and, and actually bigger than that, what people can do for themselves using hypnosis. And, and if, when I, when I hear other hy therapists talk or, you know, particularly new folks and, and or see their posts, uh, the biggest thing is, is they need to get out of their own way and let go of their fear and relax.
And, um, go have fun. Go play. And allow, you know, teach people skills and allow them to do the work.
Jason Lynnette here once again, and as always, thank you so much for interacting with this program, for sharing your reviews online and putting it up on your social media streams. And I will wait to the, uh, 50 minute mark or so, as I’m assuming to now point out that I have failed to not mention the James Bond references here.
As Roger Moore also played James Bond, but that was a different Roger Moore for this Roger Moore. Once again, head over to the show [email protected] to see the details of his websites as well as the post convention offering at Hypno Thoughts Live 2019 plus. Stick around for another two days for neurolinguistic business.
Get all the [email protected] slash. NLP Biz apply the principles of neurolinguistic programming NLP to your business to communicate better with business clients, as well as inspire them to take action with your services. Check that out. See in Vegas. Thanks for listening to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast and work smart hypnosis.com.
