Steve Roh’s Hypnosis Blog

Philadelphia Hypnotist Presents Free Workshop on 4th Annual World Hypnotism Day, Friday January 4th 2008

(Philadelphia, PA) – Every New Year, people across the Delaware Valley resolve to make a positive change in their life. But soon after, their motivation fades away and they find themselves back in the same old rut, feeling even more frustrated than before.

Why does this happen, and what can be done to make your resolutions stick? As part of World Hypnotism Day on January 4th 2008, Center City Hypnosis will be presenting a free workshop: “Using Your Mind for a Change”. During this free workshop, attendees will learn:

• Why willpower and positive thinking aren’t enough to make a permanent change.
• Why it’s difficult to change old habits and feelings, no matter how many self-help books you read, and no matter how intelligent you are.
• Why people eat too much, drink too much, or do anything “too much”.
• How you sabotage yourself every day, without even knowing it.

Most people try to change how they think, feel or behave by using a very limited part of their mind, their conscious willpower. We want to spread the word that hypnosis is a powerful and effective tool for change because it works directly with the subconscious mind, which is what really drives people’s behavior.

Hypnosis is becoming more widely accepted, as it’s being studied and used by leading medical institutions like Stanford University, the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School. We want people to learn the truth about real hypnosis, not what Hollywood and TV would have you believe.

The free workshop on Friday January 4th 2008, World Hypnotism Day, will be held at Center City Hypnosis’ office in downtown Philadelphia – 1420 Walnut Street, Suite 908. There will be two hour-long workshops, one at 12noon and another at 5pm.

Attendees can pre-register by calling Steve at 267-303-0036 or visiting www.CenterCityHypnosis.com.

To learn more about World Hypnotism Day, please visit www.WorldHypnotismDay.com.

Weight loss by hypnosis is a useful model for explaining how hypnosis works in general.

Lots of people have tried quickie weight-loss approaches, or hoped that joining a gym would motivate them to get in shape. The problem is that these approaches are kind of backwards. They don’t deal with the problem, which is usually related to a person’s fundamental beliefs about food and exercise.

For example, sometimes people subconsciously carry these illogical beliefs:

• Ice cream or pizza will help me forget that I am sad, lonely, bored or angry.
• Exercise and going to the gym is something that only athletes and “jocks” do, not me.
• Eating everything on my plate means I’m being a good boy or girl.
• Food means fun and being with friends and family, just like all those big dinners we used to have.

Rationally, these beliefs don’t really make sense. But your behavior is not driven by your rational mind, it’s driven by the beliefs in your subconscious. Popping a diet pill or trying a new diet won’t change what’s in your mind, which is where the problem, and the solution, is.

Hypnosis works by changing what you think, feel and believe, as long as you want those changes. Once we correct the wrong thinking you have about food and exercise, then it becomes natural for you to eat healthy and to enjoy physical activity.

A major part of the weight loss work we do is about improving a person’s self-worth via hypnosis. So many people do not value themselves enough. Being out of shape leads to a vicious cycle of a declining self-image.

This recent article from ABC News is about a woman who lost 500 pounds, not with hypnosis, but simply because she realized that she had value as a human being:
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3945436 .

Three years and 530 pounds later Makin is keeping the weight off. She wants people to know that crucial first step is realizing the weight is not the problem.

“I’ve heard so many times, I said it myself, if I could only lose 40 or 50 pounds, I’d be so much happier. I’ve found on this journey that the opposite is true.”

Unless you focus on what’s going on inside and start to feel better about yourself you won’t be able to stop the cycle. “The key is to find contentment and value in yourself by reaching out and doing something not for you, and the weight will come off as a side effect.”

In this society, it’s not surprising that people start using food as something more than “just food”. Page through any “women’s magazine” like Better Homes and Gardens, and notice all the happy families, almost deliriously happy because they are eating delicious processed food products… “served with love by Mom.”

TV commercials program us to believe that we can have a fantastic time stuffing our mouths with fatty, greasy, salty food product, and washing it down with a sugary soda. All the while, being surrounded by sexy and interesting friends!

No wonder we see the following trend:

Hypnosis can help you buck this trend because it works from the inside out. In the end, all you have is yourself and your mind. If your mind is not “in shape”, then you could own a hundred ThighMasters or BowFlex machines, read about yet another diet program, and you’ll still be spinning your wheels.

Here are some books that I like to recommend to clients; reading these along with working through hypnosis sessions can be a great way of enhancing positive changes. Listening to the audiobook versions is even better (and easier), I think.

The Power of Now
I love Tolle’s idea that compulsive thinking about both the past and future is a disease and at the root of many problems we create for ourselves.

Think and Grow Rich
When I first read this all-time classic, I was surprised to see that it was basically about the power of the subconscious mind and using emotions and desire to shape behavior and therefore reality. It even has a section on Autosuggestion. Did you know: Bruce Lee followed the recommended steps in this book, including writing a statement to himself where he committed to his Definite Chief Aim to become the “highest paid Oriental superstar… I will achieve world fame…” We know how that turned out! There are also some extremely successful business people who give credit to this book, but c’mon, would you rather be the billionaire CEO of some company, or Bruce Lee?

The Now Habit
This is a great book that I always recommend to procrastinator clients. Terrific insights into why people procrastinate and different ways of looking at yourself in relation to productivity. This is another book that has elements of hypnosis in it, but doesn’t call it that by name. PS. Did you know that procrastination clients are the most likely to be no-shows for appointments?

Goals! – Brian Tracy
This is another book that uses hypnosis (very evident in the audiobook at least), but never actually comes out and calls it that.

Total Money Makeover
Dave Ramsey understands that personal financial success is 80% attitude and behavior (the subconscious mind), not about math or interest rates (the rational/analytical). Check out the podcast of his radio show, where people call in with nightmare stories of getting into debt. Highly motivating and frightening at the same time. I like how Ramsey gets people totally fired up and fed up with the debtor mentality that is constantly being sold to us: car leases, student loans, credit cards, debt consolidation, etc. He’s a powerful speaker; sometimes it almost seems like he is hypnotizing people so that they can’t stand the idea of being in debt.

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
(Not to be confused with the dry but otherwise excellent “Millionaire Mind” by Thomas Stanley) This book is about the differences in self-image and self-talk between people who have a poor vs. rich mentality (regardless of raw income). When Eker talks about the programming we allow ourselves to live by, and how Thoughts–>Feelings–>Action–>Results determines our lives, I think it has a lot of relevance to the work we do together in hypnosis.

I was recently asked to perform a live hypnosis demo on CN8 Comcast Network’s “Your Morning” show. The induction was performed on a volunteer from the Comcast staff; she was a bit nervous about being on live TV as well as being hypnotized. Still, even with no pre-interview or rehearsal, and in a fairly unrelaxing studio environment (the program is broadcast from the lobby/restaurant area of a large hotel in Philadelphia), she was able to achieve a demonstrable level of hypnosis in the very limited time we had available.

Being on the program was a great experience, the staff of the show was very professional and made sure everything ran smoothly. I only wish I had some more time to help dispel some of the myths regarding hypnosis, such as:

PS. The Comcast “Your Morning” show is broadcast live every morning into 9 million homes along the East Coast. Did I mention I help many people who have a fear of public speaking, or who would like to gain self-confidence?

One of my role models has always been Mr. Spock from the old Star Trek series, the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer of the starship Enterprise. Did you know Spock wasn’t a full Vulcan? (Yes, I am a nerd) His mother was a schoolteacher from Earth.

For a long time, I removed the words “emotion” and “feeling” from my vocabulary so that I could become more like a rational Vulcan. For example, I trained myself to always use the term “I think…” instead of “I feel…”. Of course, I often fell short of the ideal of Mr. Spock, and many times went off and did very un-Vulcan things.

Eventually I recognized that even Mr. Spock could not ignore his human nature if he wanted to achieve his full potential. To do so would be illogical. As a recent article in the Economist put it:

“Rationality has its place. In the end, though… it is Captain Kirk, the emotion-ridden human, not Mr. Spock, the emotionless Vulcan, who has the nous to run the spaceship.”

Aside from wondering what the word “nous” means, this leaves us with the question of how to effectively use the subconscious and intuitive aspects within all of us.

This article from USA Today “Study: Emotion rules the brain’s decisions” describes how it’s becoming more evident that rational thinking is not what determines real-world behavior.

One of the most frustrating and puzzling things for people is that they find it so hard to make changes that they “know” are good for them. They keep trying to “talk sense” to themselves, and get more and more frustrated with how it’s just not working.

Even if you like to think of yourself as an analytical and rational person, if you find that your conscious mind isn’t helping you achieve your goal, then maybe it’s time to consider a different approach using a tool like hypnosis in order to directly modify your emotional, irrational thoughts/feelings/behaviors. That might be the logical thing to do.

First-time hypnosis clients can benefit by reading the article on this site called “How to Get the Most Out of Your First Hypnosis Session” by Cal Banyan. It helps prepare you with the right mental attitude that will make things go smoothly.

There’s another thing that clients should know in order to make things go well: a hypnotist cannot take over control of your mind, so if you resist the hypnotist’s instructions for getting into the hypnotic state, or try to fight the suggestions being offered, that will not be productive.

It would be like paying a personal trainer to teach you how to exercise and lift weights, and then telling the trainer that you aren’t going to follow the instructions, because you want to prove that you’re still in control.

This kind of resistance can happen when a person is scared of hypnosis for some reason; they may fear that they could lose control if they go into the state.

The fact is: when a person is in hypnosis, they are more in control of themselves and more aware of their own mind than usual. This is how a hypnotized person can use sheer willpower to ignore pain that would otherwise require drugs (for example, many women are using hypnosis during childbirth).

Before working with clients, I spend time with what’s called the “pre-talk”, which is designed to answer any questions and clear up any misconceptions or fears that a person may have. For example, some people needlessly worry about getting “stuck” in the hypnotic state (thanks to movies such as the great “Office Space”).

It’s very important that you be comfortable with the hypnotist operator, and have some level of trust in him or her. That’s why I encourage clients to meet with me first for a no-risk initial consultation, before going ahead with the actual hypnosis session.

The key point is that fear of hypnosis will interfere with your ability to get into that state. Make sure you bring up any questions or concerns you may have in order to get to a level where you are willing to follow the hypnotist’s instructions with an easygoing and open attitude, and things will go very well.

In his book “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking”, Malcolm Gladwell describes interesting experiments that illustrate the power of suggestibility and unintentional setting of expectations.

In one experiment, two groups of students were given the same standardized test. The difference between the two groups was that one group was asked to self-identify their ethnic background right before they started the test, while the other group was not asked about their ethnicity. Researchers found that, as a whole, “minorities” in the group of students who were asked about their ethnicity did significantly worse on the test.

This can be related to hypnosis because it shows that real-world outcomes can be altered merely by subtle suggestions that are not even explicitly stated; just having low expectations in your subconscious mind is enough to make a difference.

But when people actively suggest negative things to themselves in their own mind or out loud, the effects are even worse.

In working with clients, this is seen all the time:
Procrastinators declaring “I’m so lazy”.
Smokers saying “I’m addicted to nicotine, it’s so hard to quit”.
Overweight people saying “I just can’t stop eating that whole pint of ice cream”.

If you talk like this to yourself, you are not just stating a fact that describes your current situation. You are reinforcing your current situation and making it your reality.

If you are trying to overcome a certain fear, just imagine what would happen if you walked up to a small child, grabbed him or her by their little shoulders, and said “Don’t be nervous! Don’t be scared about what’s about to happen!” The poor kid would start bawling. Similarly, if you think in terms of trying to convince yourself not to get nervous about an upcoming presentation or speech, guess what will happen?

Negative self-talk is one of the major obstacles that people create for themselves. This is why when we do hypnosis together, the suggestions are framed in a positive way; but even outside of hypnosis sessions, people should be mindful of what they are telling themselves about themselves.

This story from CNN, headlined “Man sues IBM over firing, says he’s an Internet addict”, highlights the growing problem of people who are allowing their overuse of computers and the internet to negatively affect their lives. Now, unlike the endless streams of legal talking heads on the all-news networks, I am not going to give my opinion about the specifics of this case. Aren’t you relieved?

However, for a hypnotist, what is interesting about this case is that the fired internet addict is claiming that the source of the compulsive computer use was a trauma he suffered in the past. If you are familiar with Cal Banyan’s The Secret Language of Feelings, the computer addiction can be viewed as just another way of distracting yourself from painful emotions.

The CNN article quotes from a Stanford University study that has a similar way of looking at this new addiction:

Stanford University issued a nationwide study last year that found that up to 14 percent of computer users reported neglecting work, school, families, food and sleep to use the Internet. The study’s director, Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, said then that he was most concerned about the numbers of people who hid their nonessential Internet use or used the Internet to escape a negative mood, the same way that alcoholics might.

As technology develops, it seems that people will never run out of new ways to distract themselves away from their emotions. Fortunately, hypnosis can help people face their feelings and learn to react to them in a more effective way, rather than using internet chat rooms, games or blogs as a way of numbing themselves temporarily.

This recent article in the NY Times should be of interest to all hypnotists: “In Clue to Addiction, Brain Injury Halts Smoking“.

It seems that scientists have identified a specific region of the brain, called the insula, that acts as a gateway between the unconscious nervous system and the conscious rational mind. This region can take signals coming from the nervous system, and translates these into emotions that are associated with behaviors formed by the conscious part of a person (ie. “I am going to buy a pack of smokes”).

People with a damaged insula reported instant loss of craving for cigarettes, even if they were heavy smokers. Luckily, these people did not lose their natural desire for things such as food, breathing or sleep. It seems only learned behaviors or habits like smoking are affected by this insula damage.

This adds an interesting dimension to commonly understood models of why hypnosis is effective, where the mind is viewed as being divided into unconscious, subconscious and conscious roles. It would be good to see if any studies show hypnosis has a direct affect on this insula region of the brain.

Even though smoking cessation is a bread-and-butter issue for professional hypnotists, I somehow doubt that voluntary insula damage will become a popular method of quitting smoking anytime soon. But eventually, scientists will surely be able to solve this bad habit with some sort of technical solution. In fact, I would think that theoretically all human problems that hypnotists typically address would eventually be solvable using some sort of technology that directly modifies the brain. But cultural and social barriers would make that sort of thing only appealing to the ultra-bleeding-edge of society. After all, many people are still frightened about the possibility of a hypnotist “messing with your mind” just by using words!

Then again, maybe society will decide that certain addictions or behaviors are so harmful, that in those cases it will become mandatory to submit to insula modification.

Things are definitely going to get interesting in the years ahead!

by Calvin D. Banyan, MA, BCH, CI

What can you do to make sure you get the most from you first hypnosis session? This is a very good question, because it is an important one for those seeking hypnosis or hypnotherapy services. An entire book or at least a chapter could be written on this topic. In this discussion I will narrow it down to two main factors that contribute to you getting the most out of your first hypnosis session.

The Hypnotherapist Should Help You To Feel Comfortable About Doing Hypnosis By Telling You All You Need To Know About Hypnosis

The first important factor determining your success is your choice of hypnotherapist or hypnotherapy provider. Providing you have made a good choice and your hypnotherapist is well trained (i.e., a Certified Hypnotist), she will know how to help you to be prepared for your first session by providing you a sufficient amount of information about hypnosis, hypnotherapy, her experience and credentials, as well as what to expect during the session, basically everything that you need to find out to put you at ease.

For most people receiving this kind of information is and important part of the process, because any experienced hypnotherapist can tell you, proper preparation of clients prior to the hypnosis session improves success. It improves success because preparing a client for the session helps to reduce concerns about the hypnosis process and set up an appropriate expectation of what to expect the hypnotic experience to feel like. Any fear of being hypnotized will always reduce the probability of success of any hypnosis session. An individual who has a realistic expectation of what the experience of being hypnotized will be like, will feel more comfortable and satisfied with the experience, during and after the session.

What You Can Do To Get The Most Out Of A Hypnosis Session

The next main factor that will contribute to the success in your first hypnosis session of course is you, and how you mentally approach the session. Presuming that your hypnotherapist has done her job well as discussed above, and you have asked all the questions you feel you need to ask, you should feel comfortable with experiencing hypnosis.

Here is what you need to do, you need to adopt an easy going accepting attitude for following instructions.

Almost all hypnotic inductions contain some suggestions for relaxation. Even the instant and rapid inductions have some kind of suggestion for relaxation. However, contrary to popular opinion, physical relaxation is not required for hypnosis to occur. It has become my opinion, after conducting thousands of hypnosis sessions, as well as supervising and training hypnotherapists who have conducted thousands more, that the physical relaxation is only encouraged (through suggestion) so that a kind of mental relaxation can occur. This mental relaxation is a major part of what helps you to experience the benefits of hypnosis.

This mental relaxation is sometimes called “contention.” This “contention” does not have anything to do with conflict or tension. In fact it is quite the opposite. This “contention” is a mental state where, it is as if the person in hypnosis is hanging on the hypnotist’s every word. In the Dave Elman-type inductions, there comes a point where the client is asked to relax her “mind until the numbers fade away.” When the numbers have faded away, as a result of relaxing the mind, we have guided our clients into this highly relaxed state of mind, and as a result, they can become highly suggestible, and be able to experience virtually every kind of hypnotic phenomena, from catalepsy to hypnotically induced anesthesia.

The hypnotist or hypnotherapist cannot relax your mind. She is in the role of a coach or teacher. The hypnotic induction is a way of helping you to first (generally), relax your body, and then use that relaxation as a model for relaxing your mind and creating the hypnotic state. When you follow the instructions of the hypnotherapist, your conscious mind become less critical of the instructions and suggestions given. Once this has been accomplished your hypnotherapist can help you become successful for whatever you came in to see a hypnotherapist for. So, it is essential that you do not, over analyze the instructions. Analysis and mental criticism is the opposite of the mental relaxation you want to create. Just as muscle tension is the opposite of physical relaxation, mental work such as rationalization and analysis is the opposite of mental relaxation.

Now we return to the idea of adopting an easy-going accepting mental attitude. Analysis and criticism is equivalent to mental work. If you are doing mental work, you are not relaxing the mind and not relaxing the mind will inhibit you going as deeply into hypnosis as you could otherwise. The deeper you allow yourself to go into hypnosis, the more benefit you will receive from each hypnosis session.

How I Helped To Make My First Hypnosis Session Successful

[please keep in mind this article is guest written by Calvin Banyan of the Banyan Hypnosis Center - Steve R.]

Let me give you and example. Even though I learned how to do hypnosis many years ago, it was only about 5 years ago when I decided that it would be beneficial for me to have the experience of being hypnotized by someone else. Up to that point, I was always the hypnotist; I had never been the “subject.” So, I contacted a hypnotherapist that I did know personally (I thought that would put me more at ease), and arranged a session to work on something that was important to me at the time.

As I sat waiting for my meeting with the hypnotherapist, some anxiety (fear) started to set in. I was not afraid of hypnosis. I was not afraid of the hypnotherapist; she came to me highly recommended by someone that I highly trusted. I was afraid that I would mess the whole thing up! I was afraid that I would be too analytical and be too focused on how she was conducting the session to allow the process of mental relaxation to occur. I was concerned that I would not allow contention; that I would not be able to put aside my analytical rational thinking long enough to experience what I hoped to experience.

It was then that I sat down and had a little talk with myself. It went something like this… “Okay, do you really want to do this or not?… Don’t go ahead with this unless you are willing to follow instructions. Only you can get in the way of having some success here. So, what are you going to do? I know you are a trained scientist. I know you are a little stubborn. I know you like to be in charge and in control, but you can’t do that right now, that is not how it works…”

Then it happened. I decided, that I was going to be the best hypnotic subject that this hypnotist had ever seen! It was just a decision. But it was just the decision that I needed to make.

I had just decided that I was going to give her a chance to do her work. I was going to allow her to be in charge for a little while. I was going to follow her instructions and just adopt an easy-going accepting attitude for what ever she suggested. And, when I wasn’t sure of what to do or of what she was doing, I was going to relax entirely and give her the benefit of the doubt!

Was I doing this for her sake? No. How well I did in the hypnosis session was going to have very little effect on her life… I was there because there was something that I wanted to accomplish, and the only way I was going to be able to accomplish that was to follow her instructions and to adopt that easy-going accepting mental attitude.

And, that is just what I did. I had a great hypnosis session; which included a hypnotic age regression to when I was so small I hadn’t even walked yet! It was a profound experience and an important part of my education as a hypnotherapist.

So, what can you do to make the most of your upcoming hypnosis session? Sit down and have a little talk with yourself, and then decide to adopt that easy-going accepting mental attitude, and to follow all of the instructions of your hypnotherapist without rationalizing or analyzing, really let your mind relax like your body can relax, and you will have done your part! Then you will get the very most out of your hypnosis session. That is my advice.

© 2001 Calvin D. Banyan, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from http://www.hypnosiscenter.com.

Thanks for visiting. This site takes a look at news and current events from the perspective of a hypnotist. That may sound kind of odd, but really, since hypnotism is all about human beliefs, habits and behaviors, almost anything can be related to hypnosis in some way.

My name is Steve Roh, a professional hypnotist in Philadelphia PA, owner and operator of Center City Hypnosis.

I hope this blog informs or at least entertains you for a while.