There are a lot of people out there that don’t want amateurs doing hypnosis. Many of them are ‘professionals’ in the business. I am not really sure why some of them are so adamant about this. Frankly, I think it is the rare bird, indeed, who has the courage to actually go try doing street hypnosis without having taken a class or having done a great deal of practice on friends and such first.
It brings to mind the rather arrogant position of some of the historical greats in the hypnosis field. Milton Erickson and Dave Elman both believed that hypnosis should be reserved for those in the medical profession.
I believe that this is the surest way to kill hypnosis. Medical professionals - well meaning medical professionals - dismiss hypnosis every day. It doesn’t fit in with what they have been taught. That is not meant as a criticism. Rather, it is accepting a fact. People… even doctors… fear what they don’t understand.
As a hypnosis professional myself, I believe that hypnotists should have a role in medicine, working alongside the doctors. Every day there are new evidences that hypnosis can be of great value to the health industry.
People stop smoking – health gets better.
People lose weight – health gets better.
People de-stress quickly – well… you get the idea.
Where the problems come in is when hypnosis professionals attempt to get into the medical profession’s turf. I have no problem telling someone to see a doctor so they are certain of what their condition is. I NEVER tell anyone to quit taking any medication. I do pain relief ONLY when I know the person is under a doctor’s care. And then I still don’t remove pain. I turn it into something that is bearable and yet still indicates that something needs to be treated by a medical professional. (Pain is there for a reason.)
All of that to say this; learn, really learn how to do hypnosis. And don’t be afraid to go out and practice at every opportunity.
You can never get good at something that you don’t practice. (Well, almost never. But that is for another type of blog altogether.)
And don’t let the ‘big boys’ tell you that you need to spend hundreds and thousands of classroom hours before you go out and play. I took an NGH certified course years back. Actual hands-on hypnosis only happened 3 times during the entire course… and then only for a few minutes to practice inducing and waking them up.
I take my students out on the second day of class and we just have a good old time zapping people on the street. And that is why my students go home and jump right into business, or doing parties, or just zapping friends and family.
Because they know they can!
Until next time…
[Info on my classes: http://www.wlmhypnosis.com/signup ]
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Jeff,
Heartily agree about the medical profession … and certification. I am seriously reconsidering my membership of my association, which charges me an annual fee (… no problem there…) for a bit of paper so I can get insurance, then I have to buy 10 sessions of ‘Supervision’ by another Therapist ( … who, incidently, I am giving ‘more to’ than ‘getting from’ … again, no problem there … BUT also I am required to buy more training throughout the year to qualify for my ‘Continous Professional Development’ or CPD points to qualify to stay in the organisation. Good Business plan!
At the end of it all, I have learned more from you ( …and another to be fair…) about Hypnosis than I have from the hundreds of hours in ‘trianing’.
Thanks Jeff, and I will keep on practicing wherever I am, either socially or in my consulting rooms
I am now concentrating on a great diagnostic system to get to the ‘Biological Conflict Shock’ and Change Work interventions to bring about those Emotional & Behavioural changes.
We will meet some day …