Since thousands of years ago, hypnosis has been used to some extent in every culture. It has been used by many doctors thorough the years but it has not always been considered a viable means of assistance. The world of psychology got very interested in hypnosis and used it with some amount of success.

Currently there is a very famous means of hypnotizing people known as Ericksonian hypnosis. It has many applications.

What Is The Difference Between Ericksonian Hypnosis And Traditional Hypnosis?

When people think about hypnosis they always imagine a very typical image of a hypnotherapist giving strong commands to people in a semi conscious state or sometimes in deep trance. This is not the case of Milton Erickson’s discovery.

Milton Erickson was a poor man born in 1902. He grew up in a rural environment. Nobody could have imagined that this man would invent some kind of hypnosis. He received a very bad education and he was indeed color blind, dyslexic and tone deaf. Not the image of someone who would then create Ericksonian hypnosis, and become very well famous.

He contracted polio at the age of seventeen. This left him paralyzed. His parents, who were very poor, doing the best they could, tied him to a chair during the day, while they went to work, and he was left in the house. As Milton could not move, he spent most of his time watching people’s movements and their body language. He realized that people had some kind of subtle body language and that our bodies can communicate things that we do not want. He also liked to visualize himself moving, walking or playing outside. He could even move his chair when he was in such a deep state of concentration. He also noticed his baby sister’s movements and he started imitating her, until he could walk himself.

Thanks to this success, he could develop Ericksonian hypnosis. In this kind of hypnosis the hypnotist gives indirect suggestions instead of direct ones as it is the case in classical hypnosis. The Ericksonian hypnosis approach can use both deep trance state and storytelling.

In Ericksonian hypnosis through storytelling, a general topic is used over and over in order for the subconscious mind to pick up the messages the hypnotist is trying to send.

This kind of hypnosis is in a very wide use these days. There are different approaches and methods to using it both during trance states and through story telling.

Even some people report that Ericksonian hypnosis has worked for them in cases when classical hypnosis has failed.

Further Resources

Click here to find out how Conversational hypnosis works! Learn secrets and tips about the Ericksonian Hypnosis Approach!

Following on from our previous article, Reducing Stress – Key Success Factors, we will now look at practical ways in which you can reduce stress and anxiety, without recourse to drugs or other expensive and time consuming treatments.

These practical ways are based around NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming – and we must first understand what this is.

Neuro Linguistic Programming is a collection of techniques that allow us to understand how our minds work, and apply this knowledge so that we can achieve greater success in life and make positive changes to better ourselves.

It is unsurprising therefore that NLP has its basis in Psychology. NLP was founded by John Grinder and Richard Bandler back in the 1970s. Working together, they found a way to turn excellent behaviour into a process. They then sought to teach that process to others, so that anyone can learn excellent behaviour. Their work is based upon their study of eminent experts in human behaviour, including Virginia Satir, Gregory Bateson, Milton Erickson and Fritz Perls.

Bandler and Grinder initially studied these eminent therapists and found them to be excellent communicators – they all generated amazing changes with their clients purely through their conversations and the clever use of their language with their clients. This is where Bandler and Grindler came up with the term Neuro Linguistic Programming:

Neuro – How we use our nervous system to experience the world around us. All the information that enters into our brain using our five senses of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste.

Linguistic – How we use language and other non-verbal communication systems to interpret this information – pictures (is it focussed and clear or hazy), sounds (is it a loud or quiet noise), touch (does it feel rough or smooth), smell (does it smell fresh as a daisy or is it an odour of decay), taste (does it taste too salty or too sweet).

Programming – Once we have interpreted all this information, we run programmes (often unconsciously) to get things done. We are not aware that we are running them; they are just part of our routine. For example, brushing our teeth twice a day, or washing our face, or our daily drive in to work. Using all the information in our mind we can find out what is in that programme. If there’s something that needs changing we can do so. For example if you can write presentations easily but get anxious about standing up and actually presenting, or you find it easy to talk to your boss informally but get nervous when you ask for a promotion or pay rise, or you play sports excellently for fun but always lose in competitions, NLP can help.

NLP teaches you how to change your unwanted actions into excellent actions and behaviours, so instead of feeling anxious about having to lead the client presentation and how you might mess this up, your behaviour would be to feel excited and motivated about how well you will be able to lead the client presentation.

NLP is formed around the concept that all behaviour is rooted in the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is the bit of the brain that is always functioning, and runs all our necessary programmes, even though we are not aware of this, like making sure we keep breathing when we are sleeping.

The unconscious mind stores all our memories, processes all our experiences, filters everything we feel, hear, see, taste and smell, and it attaches emotion to everything we do.

NLP shows us how to access our unconscious minds, and also provides techniques for making changes at the unconscious level. Because the change is unconscious, it is easier, faster and more permanent.

Consider this example – A few years ago I was standing in my friend’s garden with her, her husband and her two year old son, who was playing at her feet. A large cat suddenly jumped onto her garden wall. She screamed and grabbed her son. He instantly picked up on her fear and started crying. The cat stayed immobile on the wall. Her husband, annoyed that she had taught their son to be frightened of cats, took him from her, and tried to show him that the cat was friendly, but his son was terrified, even though the cat had not attacked anyone. He had learned, in an instant, to be afraid of cats.

Anxiety is a learnt behaviour. The brain does not differentiate between a wanted or unwanted behaviour. It just does things to get results. So, where you have learnt to feel anxious in a situation, you can unlearn that too.

You can also learn positive behaviours instantly. If you change your hair style and everyone tells you how great it looks, you automatically style it that way more often.

Every time you have a moment of realisation like this, your brain makes a new connection and you are learning.

And it is in this ability to use NLP techniques to unlearn unwanted behaviour, and learn desired behaviour, that one solution to anxiety lays.

Look out for the next article in this series shortly.

Heena Pattni, Anxiety Treatment Specialist, is committed to providing professional women with tailored, painless, effective and long-lasting solutions to their anxiety, stress and related issues, using powerful NLP Therapy, Time Line Therapy™ and Hypnotherapy techniques. She is committed to providing them with the ongoing resources to maintain the positive changes they make during their time with her, freeing her clients to pursue their goals with increased confidence, motivation and determination. Visit us at http://anxietytreatmentspecialist.co.uk

Anyone with so much as a passing interest in hypnosis will have at least heard the name Milton Erickson before. Milton Erickson (1901-1980) is highly regarded as one of the most important figures in hypnosis (and NLP) as many of the techniques he created were revolutionary. One of the many great techniques attributed to Milton Erickson was the hypnotic handshake induction. This is a techniques so effective and powerful than even today it is still taught in many NLP workshops.

Before I teach you the hypnotic handshake induction though I would like to discuss Erickson’s background what exactly it is that made him such an extraordinary man. Milton was born into a farming family of modest wealth when at the age of 17 he contracted polio. The polio effected him so badly that doctors believed he had only days to live. It was through pure will and the use of self hypnosis that Milton was able to stay alive. As he was recovering Milton was still almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak. Rather than do nothing though Milton used this time to study people’s body language as well as their tonality, non-verbal communication and their choice of words. This was how Milton Erickson became so adept at reading people.

Even more amazing though was the way Milton used self hypnosis to regain the ability to walk. He would induce a hypnotic trance within himself and then begin to think back to times when his arms and legs worked and imagine them moving once more. It was a slow ordeal but eventually Milton Erickson taught himself to walk again.

That is the sort of fortitude and intelligence Erickson held within himself. You can be sure that the hypnotic handshake induction is the real deal, just like Milton Erickson himself was.

To start with approach your intended subject with a smile and offer them your right hand. Without even thinking about it they will extend their right hand and begin shaking your hand.

As the handshake is about to end you change your grip to a light touch by your thumb and then brush the subject’s hand with your middle finger. The touch is then shifted to the pinky finger. From here you shift the touch to the middle and then the thumb once more. Next you touch the open area of the wrist with an ever so slight upward push before a downward push of a similar force. The handshake is then terminated ever so gently so that the subject doesn’t even realise contact has been broken.

Because shaking hands is something every adult has done thousands of times this unexpected change of action literally confuses the subject’s mind into a trance state. That is what makes it such a great hypnotic induction. The Milton Erickson handshake induction turns a very mundane action into a very interesting one indeed. What you suggest to the subject once you have induced a hypnotic trance state is up to you.

It may take a little practice to truly master but once you do you have a great tool to use either as an induction to conversational hypnosis or maybe just as a party piece to get people talking.

Learn more hypnosis secrets such as the hypnotic handshake induction only at NLP Hypnosis Secrets.