Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is Hypnosis?
“Hypnosis is a condition of profound relaxation which you allow yourself to enter, during which time there is an altered state of conscious awareness”
To understand clinical hypnosis and hypnotherapy, it's useful to understand the concept of the subconscious or unconscious mind. This is the part of your mind that is the most powerful, containing infinite wisdom and memory and a very deep level of intelligence. It is your untapped resource for creativity and imagination. Your unconscious mind is the seat of all your emotions and therefore directs nearly all of your behaviour. Most importantly, your unconscious is also responsible for maintaining your body in good health and for all autonomic processes (e.g. breathing, blood circulation, tissue regeneration, repair, fight or flight responses etc.) There are over 20 trillion cells in the human body and over 2,000 chemical reactions in every cell every second of every day all of which happen unconsciously.
Your unconscious is constantly monitoring millions of bits of information every second and it is making decisions for you about the data. Studies show that we are only consciously able to process 7 unique pieces of data at any one time [Miller 1956 “The Psychology of the magic number 7 plus or minus 2”]. This is why there are so many processes which happen unconsciously or outside of our normal conscious awareness. Consider the unconscious as the part of you which looks out for you and learns how to guide you through life. Most of the time it does a good job but sometimes it makes mistakes and it needs re-education or re-training.
There has been considerable research work done with hypnosis to clearly demonstrate that it is the basis of many therapeutically useful methods of facilitating mind-body communication and healing. The work of Hans Seyle [1936 1976 “General Adaptation Syndrome”], Milton H Erickson M.D [The seminars, Workshops & Lectures of Milton H Erickson Vol 1 to 4] and Ernest Rossi [ The Psychobiology Of Mind-Body Healing] all validate the view that psyche, mind and brain are all pervasively linked to modulating body processes in health and wellness. The relatively new science of Psycho-Neuro-Immunology has developed from the understanding that mind and body are inextricably linked in a psycho cybernetic loop.
No one really knows how exactly hypnosis works but there are some useful theories which help us to understand an amazing and very useful phenomena. One particularly useful approach to understanding hypnosis is through the ultradian rhythms. Ultradian rhythms happen naturally at 90 minute intervals, plus or minus 30 minutes; they are subtle behavioural rest phases where people spontaneously enter a quiet or inner-directed resting mood. The Ultradian Rhythm is a naturally occurring trance state. A hypnotist is able to guide someone into this natural trance state for a given purpose.
Once in a trance state the mind is more receptive to suggestions. Imagine you are talking to a child aged 6, at that age you can tell a child about the “Tooth Fairy” or “Santa Claus” and they will accept what is said as being real. As they grow up the brain develops the ability to be critical and to question these suggestions (this is known as the “critical factor”). Through the use of language, metaphor, rhythm, and tone the hypnotist is able to effectively switch off the “critical factor” so that with hypnosis we can once again make suggestions that the brain is likely to accept. Hypnosis is a safe way of accessing your natural intelligence and issuing new instructions to enable you to create seemingly miraculous changes in your behaviour and your body.
Famous users of hypnosis include Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, H G Wells and Sigmund Freud. Hypnosis is also used by top athletes, successful entrepreneurs, entertainers and high achievers to imagine and condition themselves for success.
What does it feel like to be hypnotised?
You already know what hypnosis feels like; because you have experienced many natural hypnotic states every day of your life, when daydreaming or driving or watching TV. These are those, dreamlike states where you "drift off". The hypnosis you will experience during your appointment is a systematic method that allows you to enter these "natural dreamlike states" and communicate directly with your unconscious mind and issue new suggestions or instructions. These suggestions are tailor-made for your individual needs. All you have to do is relax and enjoy the experience!
Will I be asleep in hypnosis...what if I can't wake up?
You are safe at all times hypnosis is like daydreaming and if ever something were to happen while you were in hypnosis (i.e. a fire alarm were to go off) you would awaken alert, refreshed and calm and ready to handle any situation as effectively as you would in your normal awakened state. It is impossible for anyone not to awaken from hypnosis…..stories of this are pure myths and Hollywood fiction. Hypnosis is not like sleep and has a different brain wave signature, it resembles the sleep state in many ways you may feel sleepy it is similar to the moment when you are drowsing and about to drop off to sleep. The idea of not waking up from hypnosis is the stuff of Hollywood fiction.
Will I be under the hypnotist's power?
No you are not under the hypnotist’s power this is an image created by stage hypnotists back in the Victorian times. You cannot be made to do anything against your will or against your morals. Nor is it like a stage show where the suggestions made are for pure entertainment purposes only. During a hypnosis stage show the process of hypnosis is a selection process to not only find out who can be hypnotised quickly but who will also be entertaining. I have assisted Paul McKenna with his hypnotic stage shows on many occasions, however, the hypnosis you will experience in a clinical session is for behavioural and therapeutic change, although I am sure you will find it fun, it is not for entertainment purposes. Extensive tests show that a subject will only comply with hypnotic suggestions that fit their moral and value codes. While hypnotised you will know perfectly well what you are doing and saying. You will not do or say anything that contravenes your inner most principles although you will be aware of changes.
What is NLP?
NLP is a collection of methods and techniques that model human experience and communication. Richard Bandler the genius behind NLP says “NLP is an attitude of curiosity and a methodology that leaves behind it a trail of techniques.” It has also been called “The art and science of human excellence”.
The methods constitute a full strategy for getting any behavioural gain. NLP principles have been used to study people who are unusually talented, in order to determine the structure of their talent. So that talents, skills, strategies and behaviours can be quickly taught to others. For example if someone had a phobia and got over it how did they do it? Once we know the answer to this question we can teach others to do what they did and they will change as well. By studying and modeling success we are able to use NLP techniques to help people to make amazing behavioural changes such as:
Eliminating fears
Eradicating phobias
Destroying compulsions
Giving self-confidence
Increasing self-esteem
Improving sports performance
Increasing mental awareness (memory, attention)
Putting off procrastination!
Overcoming learning difficulties
Creating compelling futures
Dr Richard Bandler was a student of mathematics and a scientist during the 1960’s. His unique and unconventional approach and genius insights into how the mind works challenged and changed the conventional thinking and practice of the whole field of psychology and medicine in the mid 1970’s. NLP techniques are regularly used in education, sports, business, entertainment as well as therapy and coaching.
Richard was able to model the natural intuitive genius of Fritz Perls (founder of Gestalt therapy), Virginia Satir (a famous family therapist), Milton Erickson (a medical doctor who used hypnosis to get amazing results) and Moshe Feldenkrais (a body works specialist who cured the incurable). All these people were regarded as geniuses and gifted with natural talents. With Richards’s attitude of curiosity his musical and mathematical knowledge and with the help of his language professor John Grinder he was able to model and codify their talents and get the same and better results in a fraction of the time.
NLP is fast becoming the first choice for many doctors for therapeutic behavioural change.
What is Thought Field Therapy (TFT)?
Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a new technique for the rapid elimination of all types of emotional distress. It works rather like acupuncture by stimulating the body’s energy meridians. No needles are used — instead the client finger taps on various parts of the body. The results are amazing as emotional problems frequently disappear in minutes.
How was TFT discovered?
TFT was invented and developed by Dr Roger Callahan, one of America’s most distinguished and experienced clinical psychologists. After using conventional therapies like behaviour therapy for thirty years Callahan was dissatisfied with their poor results and became interested in an alternative therapy called Applied Kinesiology, which involves the body’s energy meridians.
In 1980 Callahan was treating a patient called Mary who had a phobia of water. After eighteen months of treatment with various therapies, including hypnosis and behaviour therapy, Mary was little better. Then one day Callahan took a shot in the dark. He knew Mary described her fear as being felt in the stomach and he knew that the stomach meridian passed beneath both eyes. As Mary thought of her fear he tapped beneath one of Mary’s eyes. Instantly Mary’s phobia vanished and has stayed away to this day, more than twenty years later.
Callahan repeated this technique with other phobia sufferers and found it only worked with a small minority of patients. However he knew he was onto something and years of research, experimentation and development followed resulting in what we now know as Thought Field Therapy.
Eventually Callahan discovered that most emotional problems — including anxiety, depression, phobias, traumas and obsessive compulsive disorder — could be cured by tapping on the correct parts of the body in the right sequence.
He discovered menus of tapping sequences (called algorithms) which had an 80% success rate in treating various emotional problems. Dr Callahan had in fact tapped into nature’s own healing system—a series of ‘healing codes’. Later still Callahan invented the Voice Technology™ form of TFT which has a success rate of 97%.
How does TFT work?
There are a number of theories as to how TFT works. A popular theory is that the tapping process scrambles the negative thought processes by activating different parts of the brain at the point you are thinking about the problem. Some believe it is purely distraction; however this doesn’t explain how one tapping sequence can work whereas another doesn’t. However there is an alternative theory that challenges the view of conventional medicine which assumes the mind and brain are the same thing and that emotional problems like anxiety and depression are caused by structural or chemical abnormalities in the brain which can only be corrected with drugs. Dr Callahan challenges this view that the mind and brain are separate. He theorises that the mind is contained in a sort of field which surrounds the physical body in the same way that an electric field envelops a live conductor. According to this theory, when we think of a problem we tune into a part of this field, called a ‘thought field’. It is rather like tuning a radio into a radio station. Furthermore Dr Callahan believes unpleasant emotions are caused by negative information patterns in thought fields which he terms ‘perturbations’. By tapping on the correct meridian points in the right order these perturbations are subsumed and the negative emotion disappears. In effect, with TFT we are picking the lock which controls negative emotions — we are entering a PIN code which turns off these problems.
What can TFT be used for and how successful is it?
TFT can be used to treat almost anything which might otherwise be treated with hypnosis — anxiety, depression, phobias, addictions, pain, psychological trauma, grief, insomnia, jealousy, panic attacks and many other problems.
TFT is also very effective in dealing with performance issues of all kinds: sport, business or personal.
TFT algorithms are successful with 80% of clients. By using TFT diagnostic techniques the success rate increases to 95%. The highest success rate is achieved using Voice Technology™ which is successful with 97–98% of clients. John is trained as an Advanced TFT Practitioner, so is able to treat with Voice Technology™.
What is TFT Voice Technology and how does it work?
Voice Technology™ was first discovered by Dr Roger Callahan in the mid-eighties. It is an objective proprietary method in which the voice is used as the basis for TFT diagnosis. Thus the perturbations — and the exact tapping sequence required to eliminate the problem — can be readily elicited. This enables the diagnosis and treatment to be done by telephone. Therefore this state-of-the-art, precise solution to emotional problems can be available without the need to travel at your convenience wherever you are in the world.
What are Individual Energy Toxins?
Dr Callahan discovered that toxins play a role in many psychological and physical problems. However, the toxins of TFT are not the same as the toxins of conventional medicine. In TFT a toxin is a normally harmless substance which has an adverse effect on the body’s energy system. These include certain foods like wheat, milk, corn, eggs, sugar and coffee and inhaled substances like perfume and aftershave.
However, toxin sensitivity is an individual thing. What is toxic for one individual may be no problem for another — ‘One man’s meat is another’s poison’.
Toxins have three effects in TFT: they can make a problem return after a successful treatment; they can prevent TFT or indeed any other form of therapy from working; and in some cases it is likely the toxin caused the problem. For example, many cases of insomnia are caused by toxins and panic attacks are often triggered by them.
TFT Voice Technology™ can be used to identify toxin sensitivities in a matter of seconds. As part of your treatment you may be advised to make dietary changes to get the maximum benefit from your therapy.
John highlights the importance of identifying any individual energy toxins in his book ‘Unleash the Slim Within’, a session of TFT Voice Technology™ is included as part of the ‘Unleash the Slim Within’ programme.
