What Does It Take To Succeed With Hypnosis?

As a practicing hypnotist I have found certain commonalities in the clients who are successful at receiving their results. The most important of these would be the true desire to be free of whatever the issue is that they came in to release. These clients take the work very seriously and never have any reasons, rationalizations or excuses as to why it was that they did not do their homework as given during the sessions. Any homework that is given is specially crafted for that particular client’s situation. In fact when a client agrees to do the work with me they are given two forms to sign stating that they will do whatever it takes to receive the results they came in to get. The expectation is that both the time and monetary investment is large enough that they would be inclined to do what is necessary to be released from what ails them. These clients understand that I can not do the work for them. This is their work and they are in control of confronting the issues that need to be dealt with, not I. I am merely the tour guide to get them to where they want to be.

The second most important thing is for the client to trust the hypnotist of their choosing. It is helpful to work with someone with whom you feel comfortable. You are going to have to open up about all those scary things that are in your mind that are making you feel badly enough to get the help. If you are not comfortable with the person, there is no way in which to create the appropriate dynamic between the two of you to achieve what you desire through the work. I have had many clients who came to me after unsuccessful work with other therapists who have said that they really didn’t know why they felt comfortable telling me things that they never felt comfortable telling their previous therapist. I can. It has everything to do with not feeling judged for the thoughts and feelings that the client brings into the work. I make it very clear that I would not want to be judged for the things that I have done and therefore would never judge another. This creates a very different feeling for the client. The client is not used to having the idea of judgment released in the first session; however to my mind this is more important to the client than anything else. The idea of working with another fallible human being is a relief, and so they can be themselves feeling safe in doing so.

The third most important commonality is the understanding that if they have little to no understanding of what hypnosis is, that it would follow that they would not know whether or not they were in a hypnotic state. Simply stated it is a very relaxed state, nothing more and nothing less. However, the average person does not understand that. When a client decides that they were not hypnotized they are also deciding that they are not going to allow the suggestions to take place. This is of course something that is explained to them before they come in and again on the first visit, and still some folks believe that they can understand something in which they have little to no knowledge. My successful clients really have no concern whether they were hypnotized because they hired me to do that for them and believe that I as the expert know what it is that I am doing. They also realize that they are the ones who need to create the desire for the change to happen, or even in a hypnotic state, they may not be successful.

The last commonality is the knowledge that they have it within themselves to do what they need to in order to be free, even if they are not sure of how it all works. They have an understanding that the process will unfold itself and when they are complete they will know it. In the hypnotic work that I do, the client knows after the first session what their results are to be and the evidence that will be manifested in the achievement of those goals. This is helpful because it is always easier to attain a goal when you know what it is that you are seeking.
Because these clients realize that the more complex cases may take more time, they allow themselves the time and space to do what is needed. This is not to say that they sometimes don’t get frustrated because it may take a little longer than they wanted, but they realize that patience is a good thing and everything else that they tried did not work, so they allow the time to get the job done and that is based on how their own mind and body is able to integrate the new learning.

If you are the sort of person who is willing to go with the program and do what it takes, then hypnosis can be a very safe and quick way to achieve what you desire in life.