Session #6: Hypnosis State of the Union

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Imagine building a more successful hypnosis business just in the next 10 days. To learn how please visit work smart hypnosis.com and take the 10 day hypnosis business challenge yours free today. 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. Here we go. Session number six, Hypnosis State of the Union. Oh boy. I’m excited for this one today. This is Jason Lynette here, work smart hypnosis.com, and I’d love to sh share some of my thoughts in terms of how it is that I approach hypnosis. You know, it’s interesting because as I teach the hypnosis classes that I do, I, I take it as the biggest compliment that I often have people who have already been certified hypnosis going through my certification program, and I take that as a compliment, but I also look at that with just full respect because I’ve done similar things too.

You know, I love the advice we had Michael Elner back in the program on session number two. Go back and check that one out. And I love his advice about learn from people who disagree with each other. And still, I often would even say, go back and learn from those people that you learned from earlier on.

You know, I did, uh, my certification training with Sean Michael Andrews from session number three, and then recently went back and took another class with him again, and it was a lot of the same content. But going through it after the filters of doing hundreds of stage hypnosis program, seeing more than a thousand clients, things were coming at me from brand new perspectives.

and then even go around and just continue my training. So I tend to be someone that will give two pieces of advice that I often would accept are actually quite conflicting, but they both support each other. To say that on one side of things, you probably have the information you need to jump in, grow your business, and really start to help people.

But at the same time, I tend to be someone, at least in my local area, who’s. A whole lot more continued education than most. And at the same time, I’m also one of the most successful in this area, and I would very, very, You know, clearly say that I think the two are directly connected. So go out there and learn.

Yet at the same time, embrace what you already have. The titles that I like to use, I don’t like the professional student. And what I mean by that when I say professional student is I’m just gonna keep taking classes. And once I have this thing, then I’ll be ready. And perhaps, you know that person in the.

Perhaps you might be that person. Once I learn nlp, then I’ll start seeing clients, Okay, well I’m gonna take this specialized weight loss hypnosis class, and then I’ll be ready to see clients. Oh, I’m gonna go get this program and do it at home by video, and then I’ll be ready to see clients, professional student, all they’re doing.

Is sticking in that learning mode. They’re information gatherers rather than surface providers. What I’d rather see is that perpetual student, that’s that person who’s working, who’s actually putting the stuff to use and at the same time reinvesting their time, energy, and money, and going back and learning.

To refine what they know to network with other hypnotists, just to really connect in there. So in terms of step one of this, uh, hypnosis State of the Union, an attitude of ongoing educational support, I think is vital. And indeed it’s wonderful why most of the major organizations, if not all of them, have a policy about continued hours for recertification.

You know, staying active, staying concurrent. Active in the most up to date information as well. So a couple of thoughts that I’ll share here in this hypnosis State of the union, and I tend for all of this to come across as positive. This is not Jason Lynette up on his soapbox, but these are just some interesting ways to reapproach how it is we think about how we talk about hypnosis.

Just a couple of thoughts here. The first one, let’s kind of look at something from a business perspective and there’s. , there’s this negative tinge that’s out there that I keep hearing of people who wanna put down other professions, this us versus them style mindset of whether it’s the quote, lay hypnotist versus the psychologist, the psychiatrist, whether it’s the hypnotist versus, I’ve even heard hypnotism over personal training, hypnotism over diet and exercise, and I tend to have the mindset of.

Of an e evolutionary science to all of this. The profession of psychology is still around because we found as a society, for most of the people, most of the time that works and the fields of psychiatry and all the medications, these things are around still to this day because as a society, we found out these things work and we’ve kept them around.

And there’s all sorts of, you know, sort of these old medicine show style cures that well aren’t around anymore. Uh, because we found that as a society they don’t work. And the fact is, though hypnosis has been around for all of these years because we’ve figured out as a society, It works. So what’s the phrase?

We all have the right to play in the sandbox together? You know, I’d give the reference, um, this wasn’t at my group, but there’s a meetup group that I’m familiar with where the person who was getting up to present a program actually got up and in the. Process of the introductory remarks was referring to how oh, clients could go to a psychologist who would bill them out of thousands of dollars and keep them on for so many years and never get any results.

And little did she know, there were actually three psychologists in the room that day, and I’m thinking, How fast are they going to send you referrals? How fast are they gonna connect with you and build a professional relationship? Yeah, they won’t. So again, I say this not just from the business perspective, but I’m someone that wants my clients to have access to whatever means necessary may be beneficial to them.

So let’s drop this other helping professions or bad thought and let’s begin to become more connected. I love. Uh, I, I share that, I read the title incorrectly, but it’s a fabulous book, Integrative Hypnosis by Melissa Tears. Her style of integrative hypnosis is referring to how she folds in other modalities of helping into her hypnosis sessions.

But when I saw the title of the book, it clicked with me in a different direction because something about alternative. Alternative healthcare alternative services. That just bothered me. Even the concept of perhaps complimentary. I can get on board with that one about something that’s gonna be beneficial in conjunction with everything else you’re doing.

I’m okay with that. I would love for hypnosis to be this integrative hypnosis process, integrating hypnosis into that process. The person is already making use of, There’s research out there that supports all of this. If people would make use of hypnosis before and after surgical procedures, Statistically, they found that people’s healing times are faster and their quality of life is improved.

So let’s integrate in rather than compliment onto the side. I’d rather see complimentary than alternative. I don’t know. Something about that word alternative just kind of pushes me away. Let’s talk a little bit more about business. So some would say that they live in an area where there’s too many hypnotists in their local area, but the fact is saturation is strength.

And really the competition mindset is one of scarcity. So if it’s the fear that this one in the area is doing this, this one of the area is doing this other thing, it’s putting your focus on that other practitioner rather than the focus on your business and what value you can build for your clients.

You know, the fact is there’s really not enough hypnotist out there to service all those people who can benefit from your service. So there’s only one person out there that I think you should compete with, and that’s your. Now the opposite of this is also true. There are no other hypnotists in my area, so this won’t work good.

You get to be the pioneer. You get to build your local community. So let’s talk for a moment though about how it is we actually talk about hypnosis and how it is we actually approach the process. You know, I’d hear some people say that I can’t see more than two or three clients in a day because they come in with their problems and that just wears me.

To which, if that’s what you’re saying, I would actually encourage you to rethink it because you’re connecting with your client’s problem rather than connecting with your client’s solution. I would rather see you connect with their solution and bring ’em along for the ride. So if that’s been your experience up until now, I would.

Very boldly say that that’s a bad choice of phrase. Almost very boldly, how many modifiers can we add? How? How would very boldly say that perhaps you’re not connecting with the client the best way possible? You know, the NLP presupposition, the map is not the territory, perhaps is the best way to describe this, and I’ll often explain that premise to my clients.

You can’t take a map. Of the United States of America travel out to the middle of the country and see those letters printed in the ground that read United States of America. The map is only a representation of the actual territory. So how do we begin to break this down to our clients? That issue that they’re currently going through is just an issue.

They’re currently going. It’s not part of their identity. It’s not necessarily who they are. It’s an experience they’re going through. It’s a symptom. It’s a condition they’re going through, but that’s not. So I’ve heard some that would say that. Find something about your clients to really connect with, Find something about them that just is so wonderful, and focus on that rather than their problem, to which my solution is simple.

Focus on their outcome and bring ’em along for the ride. Again, another NLP presupposition. Also one that comes out of, well, of all things improv comedy, you go first. As you are willing to go into that solution state as you’re willing to go into that resource state and then bring them along for the ride, it’s gonna be so much easier to begin to motivate those changes and bring them along for that ride to create the results that are necessary.

So more thoughts. I’ve mentioned this one in other public forms, but I’ve heard this so many times over the years. I’d rather focus on helping my clients than running a business. . Well, my client’s achieving success is vitally important to me. You know, their success builds my success. Absolutely. The best business model, in my opinion, is raving fans as opposed to lifelong dependence.

So again, this concept of I’d rather be helping my clients in running a business. Well, if your clients can’t find you, they’re not gonna be getting the help that they. So again, as we look at this from the perspective of a hypnosis business, both of these aspects have to be at play at the same time. I’ve even heard the stage hypnotist say that, though I’m more focused on entertaining my audiences than I am running a business.

Yet, this was a guy who maybe only did 10 shows a year, if even that, and actually for very low pay as well, as opposed to this one who’s out there and doing, you know, a hundred or 200 shows a year and providing that entertainment value to thousands of audience members. You know, that’s the one who’s creating more good out there.

Um, I tell a quick story, bit of a diversion here I am invited to do a stage hypnosis program in a college. And it’s up in Michigan, and I fly up there for a couple of days, do the program, and I’m coming off stage after doing this event, and the person who booked me is in tears. She’s crying, and here I am, of course.

Where does the mind go first? Uh, great. What did I say? What happened? What did I not notice? And instead, what I hear just kind of changes my perspective. I haven’t seen my father laugh in years. , Thank you. You know, and it’s moments like that where I would say if that’s not therapy, I don’t know what is. Uh, I’d share another example.

Um, I’m invited to do, uh, an assembly program at a high school up in New Jersey, uh, really short while ago. And you know those moments where you can tell someone’s setting you up for something, someone’s doing a slow reveal of information and you just don’t quite know where you’re going. , That’s the story.

I’m there, and let me kind of set the stage for this. As I’m driving up there, I’m kind of thinking through the scope of my business. I got started in all of this by stage hypnosis. I was doing stage hypnosis full time, and the thought was originally, Well, you know, Monday’s, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, I’m really not working.

Those days, I could see a couple of clients. That’d be a nice source of extra income. And also it’d be really helpful to those people who could benefit from the service. Good thing all around and maybe I can eliminate some of the markets that I would tour that, uh, were a little bit further away. My wife and I were planning to have kids eventually, so just all around it was a good idea, which quickly took over and now I’m barely doing any stage hypnosis and most of my time is spent seeing clients and teaching classes.

So this is a drive where I’m heading up. and I’m looking at how I used to do, At one point I did 150 shows in one year at schools, and then the next year was like maybe 70, and then that year was probably about 25 or so. I was tuning that part of my business out and just thinking, You know what? It’d be so easy at this point just to shift into the role of agent, just to book somebody else for these programs.

Stay local, sleep in my own. Keep it all simple and I show up to this event, I set up my sound system, I’m all set for the program, and the principal comes over. And again, remember the bit about, you know, someone’s setting you up for something but you don’t quite know what yet. He asks me a question, Have you looked at your cell phone?

and I’m in this school and I pull it out in no connection. He goes, Yeah, don’t bother in here. We actually have scramblers like they would have sometimes in a hospital, so your phone doesn’t ring. He goes, We have a zero tolerance policy with phones, but of course in our modern era, you know, we just know that students are bringing phones to school.

And then he asked me another question. What hotel did you stay at? And at this point I’m kind of on to him and just have to ask, just tell me. So here’s the scenario. He, first of all references that the hotel that I stayed at, remember this is New Jersey, remember Hurricane Sandy? Turns out the hotel that I was staying at was actually the hotel where maybe about a quarter to a third of the students, uh, with their families were actually living at their homes, were destroyed in the storm.

Remember? He also asked me, Have you looked at your cell phone today? This was the day of the shooting. At the school up in, uh, Connecticut. So there he is telling me this is what the students have gone through. This is what event, what news story they’re gonna go home to. And this was an experience where we had been in contact, it was a school assembly, all about character building, making positive choices with the wrappings of a stage hypnosis program around, you know, the old formula.

Make ’em laugh, make ’em listen. And it’s at that moment, he says, I know we talked about a motivational program. Can you just entertain them today? Can you just go out there and just give ’em a fun time? I think that’s gonna be more beneficial today. Uh, and I’m guilty of choking up the story every time I tell it.

Um, and again, if that’s not therapy, I don’t know what is. So again, the us versus them mindset, there’s often this. Stage hypnotist, hypnotherapist division, and both of these models of work deserve to be there at the same time. Both of these models of work are absolutely valid, and indeed, if it wasn’t for stage hypnosis, hypnotherapy wouldn’t be around as it is today.

Now, I chair quick side note, if I have a client who comes in and asks what’s different between stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy, my response is very simple. It’s all about context. You know, if I’m there doing a school program, one of the closing bits is someone’s hands become puppets and they start to perform Bohemian Rhap, city by Queen.

And I’ll tell them that. I’ll say that to a client and I tell them now, if in the middle of your session today where you’re here to overcome a fear of public speaking, if I suddenly gave you that suggestion, what would happen? You’d open your eyes and look at me like I was. , it’s not congruent with the experience.

So again, it’s all about context. So in that environment, people know they’re going on stage for an entertainment program, and in here we’re here to focus on change. So all of the suggestions I give you are gonna be congruent to that. Makes sense. And that’s my easy division with putting respect to both professions.

So again, if it wasn’t for one, We wouldn’t have the other. So again, more of the hypnosis state of the union. Both of these fields are absolutely valid. And again, I would share that as we start to look at this profession of hypnotism as we start to look at the work and how we approach it, you know, again, that’s gonna just help to revitalize and shift everything forward.

I tend to be someone too that would often encourage this mindset of, there’s no such thing as a good or bad technique. . No, there really isn’t. You can’t go to Home Depot, buy a hammer, try to return it and say, This thing doesn’t work. The tool is only as good as you make use of it. So there are some who would say you should never do progressive muscle relaxation.

There’s no value in it. However, if you were to do that with a client, Who was in for pain relief and you were working with conjunction from their doctor, you know, if that’s all you did, they’d be experiencing better comfort. It’s a fabulous technique. Choose the right methods. Choose the right moments.

There are some who like to go off on this bit about, uh, age regression. And that often would be a bit of a one-sided argument cuz they’re not really talking about the modern applications of age regression that most hypnotists are learning these days, that of age regression to an event. And then that informed child process of retraining the experience.

Let’s paraphrase that process. If I knew then what I know now, things would’ve been much easier. So let’s bring that information back, rerun the scene, and use that to propel you into your outcomes. So again, With that approach. It’s not that sit back and watch the miracle Unfold expectation, which in some research is actually found, made the problem worse.

Now, in this format, I’ll phrase it my way, it becomes a beautiful moment in your session where you get to sit back and the client is delivering direct suggestion hypnosis on themselves. So I like to be the person who phrases things this way. And understand this is gonna be an, uh, opposition to what I’m about to say.

Every time you hear someone speaking in absolutes assumes, assume they’re just full of it, , and realize that that statement itself was also an absolute statement as well. Learn from people who disagree with each other, and rather than get into this mindset of this technique doesn’t work, you know, look at our different perceptual positions.

Take a step off to the side. And ask yourself a different question, How do I make this technique work better? You know, I had a great experience in a class a while ago that through no fault of my training, just for whatever reason, for, you know, the first 10 years of knowing hypnosis, I never made use of arm levitation ever.

It was something that was a part of my class just in the systems of working with clients. I just never did that. And then playing with the thought of, well, why would I do that? Began to branch out in this theme of how do we motivate action? And we’ll do a session on that later on in this, uh, podcast series.

But again, the concept of how do we motivate action and then coming up with a system of helping someone that actually begins with that arm levitation process, transitioning into other levels of hypnotic phenomenon and other wonderful techniques. So if you’re someone right now who’s been trained to think that this one technique is bad, this tech will need never work, you know, Aversion, there’s another great category.

There are some people who would argue that Aversion doesn’t. Well, to which I would say, and it’s something that I don’t tend to make use of very often, but if you wanna get an immediate response to something, Oh man, is it wonderful? But then from there, transition to other strategies to perhaps build something of a longer lasting nature.

But then again, you can also build in levels of compounding of hypnosis and make the aversion p. Absolutely, as long as it’s congruent. So again, let’s drop this argument about good techniques versus bad techniques. Go back to the session with Michael Elner, The practitioner transcends techniques. So encourage yourself in the next couple of days to look at perhaps some self-limiting beliefs, some strongly held opinions, and attach the simple word at the end of it maybe, or maybe.

And just to explore that, come up with your own opinions, come up with your own experiences, and then you’re gonna find your success with your clients, your success and your business growing and thriving even further. I’d encourage you to go over to work smart hypnosis.com. You’re gonna find session notes for all of these podcast programs, regular blog updates as well.

There’s the 10 Day Hypnosis Business Challenge. You can go on there and enjoy 10 days to grow and revitalize your business. Again, Jason, Lynette here. Thank you so much for joining me. Look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks for listening to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast and work smart hypnosis.com.

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