Any suggestions for a beginner?

[Unregistered]

hi all,

i am really intrigued by hypnotism and all other forms of suggestion, mind manipulation etc in all its forms.

Please could you suggest some reading or websites that will help me learn more about this topic. Although i studied psychology at a-level and have a very basic grasp of mental conditioning i know nothing about NLP, hypnosis etc.

Also i understand the easiest way to get information for "tricks (?)" is to visit a magic website (seeing as a lot of the effects that can be produced result in a stage performance of some type).

I respect there has to be a degree of secrecy surrounding them and therefore they come at a price, i dont mind paying but if anyone could suggest a website where i can purchase information on how to perform some of these effect without get ripped off it would be a great help. I'm not really interested in the showman/magician side of it (guessing a picture a person has drawn etc) but am just really interested in learning about putting ideas into people's minds and hypnotism etc i find it fascinating

many thanks

[Don]

One of the problems with websites is that they have difficulty conveying large amounts of information, and there really is a lot of information available on hypnosis. I would suggest going to a local library and reading a few books.

As for tricks, you might look up WonderWizards. Or not.
:-)

[Unregistered]

It seems as though nobody is ever willing to give up (or even help) newbies like us learn their art. i have asked (and seen people ask) many times for recommendations for books etc but nobody ever seems to want to help.

i suppose this could be because we could be seen as future competitors or something? or maybe that because they want their knowledge to remain secret or for it all to remain a mystery how it is done (i can see why if this is so)

[Terry]

Strange that you would feel that way, very strange. My perception is just the oposite, many on this board are in my opinion too forthcoming with information that you should be getting via books and the library.
No, that is not because I want to keep any secrets from anyone, but because I perceive what we know to be of great value, and should be EARNED in order that you might also value that which we have already..... I know of no post, (and expect you to point them out to me,) which has not been answered when a request is made to direct the poster to a BOOK, this is quite fair, and the only reason I am not participation in that sort of request, is because I have been retired longer than some of the posters have lived, and my library has been passed on to those who will use it well.....Answers given on the internet, are too brief to be of value, and may be miscontrued also. Hence the hesitation to give any of importance.
Now it you truly are interested, do the work and study as we did. Don't look to freebees, they have no value, or there would be a charge. Terry

[Annie]

hello Guest,

The most respected Hypnotist here being "Merlin" - she refers newbies to her web-site *continuously*. Click on her name, under Forum Leaders, to visit there. She has a very extensive FAQ, facilitating you well on your way :) (i'm still working on mine)


Annie

[Merlin]

Have you noticed how few sites there are on the Internut explaining details of how to be a surgeon? There are vague generalities, but no specific details.
It's not because of fear of competition, but rather that the Internut does not lend itself to detailed instruction.

Hypnosis is working with the mind. The mind is much more complex than surgery. So, other than generalities, no detailed answers are given.

>It seems as though nobody is ever willing to give up (or even help) newbies like us learn their art.

It is obvious you haven't really read much of the archives here.

>i have asked (and seen people ask) many times for recommendations for books etc but nobody ever seems to want to help.

Specific help abounds here. We do not give do-it-yourself answers for the same reason you won't find on-line self-dentistry. If you need help, seek a professional. If you are a professional having difficulty with a client, we do give greater help.

Your charges are not only unfounded, but insulting.

[Don]

The fact that you came here asking for information, rather than going to a school, taking a course, or buying some books, implied to me that you don't have a lot of money to spend on books. That's why I recommended going to a library. They will have books there for free.

But more importantly, I think you will find that the people here--and hypnotists in general--will encourage you. If I had mentioned a specific book, and your library didn't have it, you might have not studied a book that is also good by limiting yourself to recommendations by myself or others.

If you want recommendations on specific books, people here, I'm sure, will be glad to give them to you. What is your budget? How much are you willing to pay for books so we don't recommend books that are out of your price range? Do you have some specific interests concerning hypnosis? If so, what are they? That way we can recommend books focused on those topics.

I agree with Merlin that you're being unfair to us. My guess is that this is because you may be unaware of the breadth of hypnosis.

In your original post, you talked about learning some tricks, too. I directed you to a website where you could get some information. When I was very young, I saw a magician do a trick and was completely fooled. I remember seeing an add for a catalog for 25 cents with magic. I thought that if I got that catalog, I'd be able to learn EVERYTHING about magic tricks. I was totally wrong, of course. Since that time I've spent many thousands of dollars on books and magic props and have also studied acting and public speaking. I didn't realize the breadth of the magical art.

[j0hnny#]

Hi newbie unregistered guest...

There are a lot of professionals on this board and it is probably true that you would need to do equivalent training to a brain surgeon in order to become a professional hypnotherapist... it will also cost you a fair bit of money... However, I think learning hypnosis and related stuff like NLP from a book is a lot more interesting and probably generally more stimulating than any brain surgery manual you might try and learn brain surgery from... Still I think the point others are trying to get across is that the experiential value of taking some training outweighs anything you might learn in a book.... This can be costly.... A book I've been reading recently is Tranceformations by John Grinder and Richard Bandler ... very interesting read (NLP and hypnosis) and may be useful to the sort of stuff you are interested in (though out of print now - still if you use your imagination you might be able to find it somewhere without it being too costly). .. If you are not in a position to go on a course, another good idea is to listen to some hypnosis tapes or training recordings (audio/video)... than analyse them.. study them..

There is a lot of free information on the internet and it may be that if you ask the right questions you will get the answers you are looking for, even here...

a lot of information is 'free', as in you don't have to pay for it.... given this treasure house, my personal policy is - if the information is of value, respect its source....

My advice beyond your query (if you are willing to consider it) is to begin communicating well (learn the tools - written word, spoken word, multimedia - I doubt by reading and discussing you will doubt the value of your knowledge.... its value is most likely in what you use it for). Here is a guide to using probably the best and most powerful tool on the internet for gathering information on absolutely anything http://www.googleguide.com/toc.html (extensive guide to using http://www.google.com/- take anything you find interesting / are interested in and run it through this).

Tip: search tools, make the effort - reap the rewards....:) there is another thread in the NLP section that asks a similar question to what you asked and got a variety of answers...

j

[Persuasion Skills]

Hi

I specialises in NLP persuasion, but I used to do stage Hypnosis and mentalism.

I've lots of free articles on these subjects on my site and I'd also reccommend Ormond Mcgills Encylopedia of Stage Hypnosis, and NLP for dummies, as two good books to start with!

However the best way to learn is to practice!! There are a numberof practice groups in london and the UK.

Regards

Marc
http://www.persuasion-skills.co.uk/

[Unregistered]

Thank you all for your suggestions on which books to read. but!...

Tranceformations by John Grinder and Richard Bandler - This was printed over 2 decades ago and can only be bought (used) for about £60!

Ormond Mcgills Encylopedia of Stage Hypnosis - I actually own this title and have found the exercises not detailed enough - i mean - (for example) the author explains to sit the subject on a chair, tell him/her to look into his eyes and say a few variations of 'sleep/heavy/etc' and they will be under hypnosis. this just does not work! where is the work he does before!?

I dont have the money to just 'hope' that if i spend that much on a book like Tranceformations that it will be what i expect.

After reading hundreds of reviews on amazon, i have spent a lot of money already on books, but have mostly always found the reviews misleading and too optomistic about the content.

I also dont have the money to spend £600+ on any training - i am only doing this for a hobby after all.

so i came here for help - maybe i should have titled this post - 'please recommend books that you have read/have got started with '.

and still - out of all the replies to my message - i have only got 2 books recommended - exactly my point!

i don't expect to learn the art overnight - i just need you guys to point me in the right direction to things i can afford (books/websites)

[Unregistered]

hello Guest,

The most respected Hypnotist here being "Merlin" - she refers newbies to her web-site *continuously*. Click on her name, under Forum Leaders, to visit there. She has a very extensive FAQ, facilitating you well on your way :) (i'm still working on mine)


Annie

i could not find any FAQ on her website - just some fluff about her family history. great if i wanted to know about her. bad if i wanted to know anything about how to hypnotise!

[Kim]

:) hello,

one book that I found particularly interesting is "Hypnosis a Comphrehensive guide". Tad James. This was the start of my reading around hypnosis.

£20.00 on Amazon.

It is only my opinion though and is certainly not the "best" book on hypnosis. I am just telling you what I read- and found useful- when I too was inexperienced in Hypnosis.

kind regards

Kim

[Terry]

I dont have the money to just 'hope' that if i spend that much on a book like Tranceformations that it will be what i expect.

... Libraries in the UK are free or very inexpensive....

After reading hundreds of reviews on amazon, i have spent a lot of money already on books, but have mostly always found the reviews misleading and too optomistic about the content.

What in your opinion is "a lot of money"?

I also dont have the money to spend £600+ on any training - i am only doing this for a hobby after all.

Now isn't that too bad, we work hard to be the best we can be, and spend both money and time on training, but you poor soul don't have the 600 pounds to get properly trained for a HOBBY. In gods name, what do you think we should do about that? ... It isn't a hobby to change lives for the better....
I spent $200.00 on my first course back in 1968, and I have no idea how much I have spent since, but $200.00 back then was at least equal to 600 pounds today.......

I wonder if you would go online and request information on what books to read, so that you might become a surgeon, and since it is only a hobby, you promise that you will limit yourself to the removal of appendix..
The help we offer with pleasure, is to those who obviously have done their homework, and have an understanding of what it is they want to get into. These can be direct to books because they know what information is desirable to them. We trust they also recognise that a training course is the inevitable end result of a desire to practise this art....What you display is a dangerous attitude that should be discouraged. Terry......

[Persuasion Skills]

Ormond Mcgills Encylopedia of Stage Hypnosis - I actually own this title and have found the exercises not detailed enough - i mean - (for example) the author explains to sit the subject on a chair, tell him/her to look into his eyes and say a few variations of 'sleep/heavy/etc' and they will be under hypnosis. this just does not work! where is the work he does before!?



i don't expect to learn the art overnight - i just need you guys to point me in the right direction to things i can afford (books/websites)
I understand your frustration, but trust me Ormonds book does work...

He hypnotises people through a process of fractionation, each exercise deeping there levels of trance.

As you read this you may begin to understand that there are levels to hypnosis...

And perhaps if you really want to learn hypnosis you could try this game with some friends...

But don't mention the words hypnosis at all, say its a really interesting trick of the mind, whoch of course it is...

Ask them to put their arms out as straight as they can be..

One hand palm up, the other palm down

nowi n the palm up to close their eyes and imagine they are hoding a bucket of water...

They can close their fist aroud the handle.

And the bucket is under a tap and water is flowing ito thr buctet and it getting heavier and heavier, and heavier....

In the other hand you've got hundreds of helium balloons tied with string to your fingers and their so light, like when you were a child and the ballons would pull your hand up into the air, do you remeber how much fun that is..

Keep switching between the two arms

Adding more water, and more ballons!

what you will begin to see is that the arm with the bucket begins to move down, and the arm withs the balloons begins to move up!

When they open their eyes the'll be shocked at how far apart their arms are!
The importnt thing is your tonality when you say heavier and heavier really mean it, i,magine yourself how much uour arms hurt!!

This is a classic exercise to test suggestability, and is the first step to hypnotic trance...

I would also suggest you go and see a hypnosis show, take a pen and write eveythong down , then you'll see how a hypnotic induction is done!

Regards

Marc
http://www.persuasion-skills.co.uk/

[Merlin]

Just under my name it says 'My FAQ'
If you can't follow something that obvious, how can you expect to grasp hypnosis?

[Unregistered]

I dont have the money to just 'hope' that if i spend that much on a book like Tranceformations that it will be what i expect.

I would suggest to you my friend, that this is a bloody lie, or else you lack the normal imagination that most of us have. Libraries in the UK are free or very inexpensive, so that is no excuse, don't treat us like idiots....

After reading hundreds of reviews on amazon, i have spent a lot of money already on books, but have mostly always found the reviews misleading and too optomistic about the content.

What in your opinion is "a lot of money"?

I also dont have the money to spend £600+ on any training - i am only doing this for a hobby after all.

Now isn't that too bad, we work hard to be the best we can be, and spend both money and time on training, but you poor soul don't have the 600 pounds to get properly trained for a HOBBY. In gods name, what do you think we should do about that? Put another bloody idiot into a position were he or she can abuse hypnosis. It isn't a hobby to change lives for the better, but is is certainly dangerous to others to let you loose with an attitude like that.
I spent $200.00 on my first course back in 1968, and I have no idea how much I have spent since, but $200.00 back then was at least equal to 600 pounds today.......

I wonder if you would go online and request information on what books to read, so that you might become a surgeon, and since it is only a hobby, you promise that you will limit yourself to the removal of appendix..
The help we offer with pleasure, is to those who obviously have done their homework, and have an understanding of what it is they want to get into. These can be direct to books because they know what information is desirable to them. We trust they also recognise that a training course is the inevitable end result of a desire to practise this art....What you display is a dangerous attitude that should be discouraged. Terry......

Terry : Im afraid, 'my friend', i was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth like you may have been. my opinion of 'a lot of money' is currently the £100ish i have invested and got no real return on. this may not be much to a snob like you, but for me its the equivilent of over a months food shopping.

the librarys local to be are useless and have no good titles on hypnosis.

im not planning to take over the world with my use of hypnosis like you seem to think, just have a bit of harmless fun with friends.

thank you everyone else for your replies.

[Don]

You say that your local libraries have "no good titles on hypnosis." If you are a beginner, how do you know they are no good? Perhaps they are good but are not providing what you are looking for?

Here in the U.S., there is something called "interlibrary loan." There may be something similar in the U.K. If so, perhaps you could request a good book be shipped to your local library from another library.

I realize that you want to have "a bit of harmless fun with friends." But that's like a person saying they want to learn surgery from a book so he can do appendectomies for fun with friends.

You're probably thinking, "But I don't want to cut anybody open." Respectfully, you would be cutting their minds wide open. You may think it is "harmless fun." You may think you have no intention to harm anyone (and I have every belief that you have absolutely no intention to do so). But without adequate training that is what you could do, even if it was unintentional.

Could it be expensive to learn hypnosis? Absolutely. People who have spent years in study, people who have spent tens of thousands of dollars on trainings and certifications, people who are giving up earning a lucrative living in order to share their knowledge with others are entitled to earn a decent wage.

So if you could spend £100/month, you might have to save for 6 months to take a training. According to a listing on the net, it costs between £7 and £10 to see a movie in the U.K. If this is accurate, skipping movies and not buying CDs for a few months would be enough to pay for a training.

[Southerntbone]

Hi Don,

While I am new here and certainly not a hypnotist, I do dabble and perform magic for the benefit mostly of patients or children with disabilities. I noticed you have understood the real magic often comes in the padder instead of the mechanics. Is it safe to say that is also true of hypnotism?

[MFowl]

Wow!

Ok my first post to read on these forums and I'm discouraged by your replies.
Here you have a post of
"hi all,

i am really intrigued by hypnotism"

and it seems that all most of you can do is throw out insults. Nice job welcoming fellow people who are interested in Hypnosis/Hypnotherapy. Do you think your really helping by saying
"Just under my name it says 'My FAQ'
If you can't follow something that obvious, how can you expect to grasp hypnosis?"
I think not.... So in the future if you dont have anything helpful to say don't Reply...
Thank you,
This rant brought to you by MFowl

[Unregistered]

You come here and offer us your rant. If you are that unhappy with what
you see, perhaps you'd be happier not returning.

[Don]

Hi, Southerntbone,

For those unfamiliar with the terms of magic, "padder" (or "patter") is what you say. I would say that for magic, it is more than just patter, it is the entire presentation. A child can learn the "Ball and Tube" effect, but with proper presentation it becomes an exploration of supposed hypnotism and suggestion (although in reality that will have nothing to do with it).

With hypnotherapy, I would say it is partially presentation, and partly patter. However, I don't want to give you a misunderstanding. In magic, people will either use their own patter or someone else's patter. There are entire books on patter for standard magic tricks.

In hypnotherapy, we have such books, too. They are referred to as "scripts." However, there is a BIG difference in how most professional hypnotherapists use scripts and how magicians use patter.

Magicians will frequently use patter word-for-word in every show. When I did the egg bag effect, I based my patter on that of Mark Wilson, only I did it much faster than he did.

Hypnotherapists in some instances will read scripts, but most of the professionals I know will use scripts as concepts and ideas to present, but customize them for each client. This is because what might appeal to one person will not appeal to another. For example, many people will use imagery of a beautiful forrest or a gentle stream or a sandy beach with gentle waves to help a person go into trance. Which one of these, if any, is appropriate for a particular person? You find out by interviewing the person before putting them into a trance.

To sum up, then, in magician terms, hypnotherapy would be part mechanics and part patter concepts which are ad-libbed to fit a particular audience.

[Merlin]

*The meaning of your communication is not in the words you say, but rather in the responses you get*

So far, you seem to demand and whine.
There is a large list of book recommendations on my FAQ.
That you whine about a lack of recommendations indicates you haven't looked at the long list.
Your whining further indicates you can't be bothered with looking at other current threads. There is another thread with book recommendations there.
If you are unwilling to even look, why should any of us bother to help?

This is not my web board. I get *nothing* from being here beyond the satisfaction of helping others.

So, why don't you take a nice, deep breath in and out, and check the references you've already been given.

If you can find it within you to communicate appreciation for the time of others here, and check the archives, you'll find emense information already here and folks willing to help.

The choice is yours :)

[Unregistered]

Oh dear,

I have come here with an open mind and i feel very agitated reading some of the replies from the longer standing forum members.

It all good and well having a faq with book titles but why make a faq which includes book titles with no ratings?

Do you wish folks to buy all the books.

Has no one here heard of e-books?

Going to a library in my opinion is the most rediculas tripe ive heard.

If hte internet is not a library of excellent source of extensive infomation on all subjects than rivals any phisical library i must be on a different planet from some of you.

Recently i have completed building a boat which i learnt from the internet because books are limited where as digital infomation is never ending.

I think there are a few fosils round here who need to turn over.

Just my thoughts on my observations of this forum i will move on from.

Just what is the definition of forum???

[Calvin Iwema]

I agree. Libraries are full of the uninteresting and useless work from all kinds of dummies like Thoreau, Nietzsche, Castaneda, Bandler, Robert Anton Wilson......

It's probably best to simply look for all the free, guaranteed approaches to gaining mastery levels of competence, in almost no time at all, with no empirical learning at all (look that word up).

Don't go and spend any money on Trance-Formations, because it outlines all kinds of inductions, gives many great tips, explains how to utilize trance, explains how process instructions work without need for content, gives many examples of cases, live and from people they worked with. It is a terrible waste of money, and will not guarantee that you can hypnotize a girl at a party in from of 20 people with a rapid induction the first time you try it. Only free, web-based information that cannot be substantiated will guarantee this.

Definitely do not, under any circumstances, read Heller's Monsters and Magickal Sticks, because then you would understand the old quote "either all communication is hypnosis or none of it is". It is all useless pholosophy that would save you much effort looking into "hyped-up" quick fixes.

Don't read any of Tad James books either, as they are full of information from someone who actually has experience. Experience is messy and may cause anxiety, and even if it produces skill and results, it highly overrated.

I think your best bet is to search the web under "free hypnosis scripts amazing results guaranteed with no effort, especially from people who have no chance in hell of actually being published and reviewed by their peers".

[solaris152000]

I have received a lot of recommendations of instant rapport from members of this board. So after saving some money I bought it, I'm expecting it in a couple of days when I get it I will tell you all I think.

A good book is "hypnosis for begginers" by william hewit. There is a little to much spiritualism there but on the whole its really helpful.


Solaris

[Kim]

brilliant response Calvin.

I shall tuck my P.C under my arm and carry it with me whenever I am travelling as well, this will ensure that I have the very best information at my fingertips.

:D

excuse me while I go and trash all 500 books from my personal library. :eek:

[desperate]

Hello people,

just to add fuel to this fire i wish to add my comments.
yes - i want to lean hypnosis quick, easy and effortlessly and not spend years leaning how to help someone with weight loss/anxiety. i dont care about hypnotherapy - i just want hypnsosis, and more to the point waking hypnosis.


to be blunt my reasons are this - i just want to master NLP seduction. i am fed up of being lonely and single for years. i have had girlfriends - but far from the type i desire. i have done everything else humanly possible to try and make myself more attractive to women but nothing works. i have a well paid respectfull job, a flashy car, a nice home, nice clothes, i take care of my apperance etc. i have studided lots of body language books to if i was giving out the wrong signals plus lots of other ways. may i also point out that i am tall, dark, and handsome (so my mum says!). NLP seduction is my last resort.

by fair or foul means i need to have (for once) a relationship with a woman i want to have a relationship with and who i am attracted to, not just 'making do with'.

i know this post is going to annoy a lot of you, but just please try and look at things from my point of view.

dave

[skip]

Dave,

Annoy? Quite the contrary, it is refreshing to hear honesty.

Now I dont know what you mean by the term 'relationship', one night stand, fling, lets see what develops, ltr, marrage, kids, the picket fence et al.

But I will say this, you dont need hypnosis to work your wiles on the girl. You MAY need hypnosis for yourself, but not for her. See the problem isnt what is going on in their mind, its whats going on in yours.

Sound crazy?

Well maybe it is, but it works. All you need are the mental states necessary to let you approach, speak, and relate to, comfortably, any woman, especially that woman you find so attractive. Then no matter what you look like, or what external trappings you have, you will discover plenty of really attractive women, both inside and out, who are going to be interested in you.

It's really that simple. I know it sounds too simple. And the reason is that I know a secret that you havent figured out yet. These women are just as interested in meeting you, as you are in meeting them, if not more so!

They are scared too, so what's the problem? If you can find a way, to make it easy for them, say by being comfortable in your own skin when around them, and making them feel at ease too. Hypnosos and or NLP can do that, and the rest as they say ...

My two cents.

skip

[dave]

thanks for your reply skip. your i agree with your comments entirely and have already acted upon this. the problem is...

i saved my cash hard for over 6 months and booked a some sessions with a hypnotheripist i found in the local paper. he had years and years of experience and won various awards for his work. i explained to him that i needed my confidence to be better so i could approach women and not feel so bad if they reject me (like they have done in the past). i went to 6 sessions with him and i can honestly say i felt no different at all in the company of women. so all i got was a big waste of my hard earned money!
since he was so old i questioned to myself whether his personal beliefs about courtship may have got in the way of him helping me out like i wanted.

i have read quite a bit about hypnosis since then and conclude that his approach to my situation was wrong. he planted did not talk hardly ever about confidence, NEVER about women and planted no anchors with me.

now it could be just that me and him did not just work out. maybe that another hypnotheripist could actually give me what i paid for, but im a bit unsure about the risk of spending all that money again for it to not work.

this is why i question maybe its not my confidence, but the techniques i could achive with NLP seduction.

thanks

dave

[Unregistered]

And thats my point exactly.

Books books books.

But which ones and why?

Dont agree with me about books being totally useless because i did not say that.

What Im saying is whip out your credit card go to Amazon and download an e-book on the subject by an Author who's rated rather than going to a library that may not have the books mentioned.

I find it amusing that you feel i need to look up empirical.

I think observations and experiments are the basis of phsycology are they not OR ARE YOU TO ARROGANT TO ADMIT THAT?

Just becuase someone has a library of 200 books does not mean they can communicate with real human beings to an extent they can treat them for mind troubles.

Shrinks make me chuckle to myself a proffesional who thinks they know whats going on in some one elses mind through reading books by so called experts.

No wonder Derren Brown went into entertainment.

Obviously Calvin you read my post and made assumptions which were wrong.

My my the things i do when we are bored.

[Unregistered]

oh just to make the point clearer Trance-Formations can be downloaded for free on a few sharing site's along with other books mentioned.

Oh but of course Calvin there not made from paper so they are inferior.

So having infomation at my fingertips where ever i go would be the case because im forward thinking enough to use the world biggest infomation network properly, rather than going down to my little local library to read one of many books, someone recommended but cant rate because they probably hav'nt even read the damn things let alone even understood them.

[Don]

Hi, Dave.

You have stumbled on a part of the unspoken difficulty of hypnotherapy which should be brought into the open and discussed.

This problem not only manifests with the hypnotherapeutic community, but also the psychotherapeutic community.

I personally refer to it as "Modal Directed vs. Client Directed." Both terms have broad definitions, but let me share what I mean.

Some hypnotherapists study a particular system so long that they have a lot of themselves "invested" in that system or mode. It may be what I call "classical" (with its "you are getting sleepy" image), or Ericksonian ("perhaps you find yourself getting sleepy"), 0r Elman, ("you are getting very, very, very, very, sleepy"), or use some device (spinning spiral, light and sound machine, etc.). It may include paternal suggestions ("You are free from smoking!" ) or more permissive suggestions ("you may find yourself desiring to be free of the polution of smoking and it seems nasty to you") or even metaphors ("you see a wildfire destroying the land and living things and know, deep in your heart, that you must not save the land and living things from the fire and smoke").

There are many other modes or systems that some hypnotherapists adopt. The problem is that if a person becomes locked into a particular system, they may limit how they approach a client. Now, before somebody attacks me here, I should make clear that just because a hypnotherapist usually follows a system does not mean that he or she is necessarily locked into it. Many do not. Some systems or modes have enough elasticity to allow for problems that one aspect of the system might not help. For example, most people are familiar with Erickson's permissive style. But sometimes he was incredibly authoritarian.

The client directed approach requires a great deal of intuitive ability and a wide level of training on the part of the hypnotherapist. Many (certainly not all and perhaps not even most) are not interested in getting a wide range of training. That is one of the reasons I always suggest that a person choose a certified hypnotherapist because certification organizations such as ABH or NGH require continued education to maintain certification for active hypnotherapists.

In client directed hypnotherapy, the training and experience and intuition of the hypnotherapist combine to determine, as a result of an extensive pre-induction interview, the appropriate approach for the client. It may be different from client to client. One client may need one approach to deal with one behavior and a different approach to deal with a second behavior.

As I said at the beginning of this post, this problem is not limited to hypnotherapists. Psychotherapists have far more modes or systems to follow and are quite often linked to one system only. That is a reason for the relative slowness of success in creating change in the psychotherapeutic community and their high rate of failure.

I do not know what the hypnotherapist you went to did with you. However, from your description, it sounds as if he did not focus on your needs, but rather focused on his needs. That is, he was modal directed rather than client directed.

And now, let me share some ideas about "NLP seduction" or "subliminal seduction." If it really worked as well as people claimed, the secrets would be sold for tens of thousands of dollars, or more. Instead, you can find tapes and ebooks on it for less than $100--often far less--on eBay. I have seen examinations of the technique--done with some people who lead workshops on it--and the techniques are amazingly obvious and stupid (IMO). The only thing these experts were able to do (less than 20% of the time) was get a phone number, and women often give out fake numbers or use an ID system to see who is calling and ignore it. What is an example? Telling a woman (after saying hello, introducing yourself, and a little small talk) to think of her favorite lover and create a picture of him in her mind. As you do this, draw a picture frame in the air around your face. The idea is that this is supposed to subliminally equate your face with that of her favorite lover--right.

My personal opinion is that by having such a system, a person builds up his confidence. It's not the subliminals, its the thinking that such subliminals give you a power that gives confidence. And ya know, many women really like confidence. My guess is that some of the women who gave the subliminal users their phone numbers would have done the same to anyone who approached them with a positive, confident demeanor.

Well, now that I've made this long rant, I'll just summarize briefly:
1) I think you would have much better success with a certified hypnotherapist who is trained in and uses any mode or system that will help a client.
2) If you want to learn "subliminal seduction," or "NLP seduction," you can get the information rather inexpensively off of eBay. However, I think it's more like a "magic bean" you could keep in your pocket. You may think that it gives you power, but it is only that thought that gives you the confidence to succeed.

Good luck, and tell us what happens.

[Hypno Ghost]

Hi, Dave.

I have seen examinations of the technique--done with some people who lead workshops on it--and the techniques are amazingly obvious and stupid (IMO). The only thing these experts were able to do (less than 20% of the time) was get a phone number, and women often give out fake numbers or use an ID system to see who is calling and ignore it. What is an example? Telling a woman (after saying hello, introducing yourself, and a little small talk) to think of her favorite lover and create a picture of him in her mind. As you do this, draw a picture frame in the air around your face. The idea is that this is supposed to subliminally equate your face with that of her favorite lover--right.
.
I've seen some message boards on this (one can search with keywords like - don juan secuction board). They seem to be what I'd call "cargo-cult NLP". To make a long story short, a cargo-cult is a primitive tribe that has had contact with modern siciety via airplanes durring a war. The planes/moderns leave, and the tribe builds bamboo replicas of airplanes to attract the real planes back! The seduction boards are full of people saying things that sound a bit like NLP/hypnosis, but aren't. The tecnique Don mentions, for instance, might be NLP if instead of the stupid "picture frame" thing, they anchored her state, and trigger the anchor any time he returns from a brief moment away from her, and to do the anchor with kinestetics ("kino" they call it at the seduction sites. They seem to know all the concepts of NLP/hypnosis, but haven't put them together in a way that might actually work). It still might not do what he wants, but it would be more like NLP that way, and it sounds otherwise like something that's trying to be NLP. If trully using NLP to find a lady, one might model some guy who has good luck with ladies. Warren Beaty if your'e looking for a "one night stand", some guy who ended up wioth the perfect wife for him otherwise - read some biographies, you'll find such a guy to model.

[Big Al]

I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANKS TO YOU FOR MAKING THIS THING AS EASY AS POSSIBLE. THERE ARE PEOPLE IN HERE THAT DONT WANT US NEWBIES TO LEARN BUT YOU AND A FEW OTHERS ARE SHOWING US THE LIGHT. THANKS.....

hello Guest,

The most respected Hypnotist here being "Merlin" - she refers newbies to her web-site *continuously*. Click on her name, under Forum Leaders, to visit there. She has a very extensive FAQ, facilitating you well on your way :) (i'm still working on mine)


Annie