Preparation. Whatever you’re doing, it’s the most important step.
Giving a speech.
Building a house.
Performing on stage.
Baking a cake.
Going on holiday.
Without the right preparation, you can’t do any of these things.
Well, you can do them, but they might turn out to be disasters. You might discover you left out some of the essential ingredients.
Or that you got to your destination without the proper gear.
Or that you need a bunch more tools than you thought when you started the job.
That’s why people make plans. That’s why they make lists and tick them off.
So they know they’ve got everything they need to get started… … and everything they need to keep going. If you’re well prepared, you can quickly get into the flow.
You can kick things off with confidence and a can-do attitude. You can get down to business, knowing you’ve got a clear vision of what you want to achieve in mind. And what is that clear vision called?
Your intention.
Getting The H+ Into Hypnosis
What’s an intention?
It’s something you intend to do. Simple.
If you’re going to help someone overcome a phobia, then that’s your intention.
If you’re going to help someone stick to their diet.
Or give up smoking.
Or ease their anxiety.
Whatever it is you hope to achieve, that’s your intention.
And when you practice hypnosis, your intention needs to be clear.
It needs to be precise and tailored to your subject’s specific needs. Something you can only discover by communicating with them. Before you start communicating with them, that’s when H+ comes into play.
So what is H+?
It’s a connection, but it’s more than that.
Where H+ is concerned, it’s all about the quality of the connection.
You need to empathize with the other person.
You need to build rapport.
You need to be overflowing with compassion.
You need to be bristling with energy.
This is not necessarily true, you usually want a very calm state, not highly energized so the subject relaxes
You need to make the connection so powerful and positive that it pulls your subject into the mix… … and they start feeling the same way.
Putting H+ Into Practice
So far so good. But it’s all just theory, right?
What you really need to know is how to make it work.
How to use H+ so every session is as productive as it can possibly be.
Before that, let’s get to grips with a few important terms.
1. The + in H+
When you put batteries in a flashlight, you need to make sure they’re the right way up. There are usually symbols on the flashlight to help you.
One positive (+) and one negative (-).
So H+ is hypnosis that’s as positive as possible.
But it’s also something else.
The + symbol also stands for “plus.”
More than the standard.
A little bit extra.
So H+ is hypnosis with bells on.
Be as positive as you can possibly be, because your positivity will rub off on your subject.
2. Go First
Get into the right frame of mind first, before the session starts.
You can’t work toward one thing if you hold conflicting ideas about it in your head.
So if you plan to help someone follow their diet, your state of mind needs to be focused on that.
You can’t think that diets are a waste of time.
You can’t think that people who fail to stick to their diets are weak-willed and beyond your help.
Those kinds of thoughts will spill out into everything you do and make it impossible for you to do your work.
3. The Pygmalion Effect
As a hypnotherapist, you have a sort of teacher-student relationship with your subject.
To get the most out of the subject, you need to have high expectations.
The higher your expectations, the better the results will be.
Another way of putting it is this: where you lead, they will follow.
If you’re positive enough, enthusiastic enough, and really project the idea that you want to help, they won’t be able to resist.
They’ll follow your lead and do what you ask of them.
Now let’s put it all together in a 7-step plan you can follow.
1. Be clear about your expectations.
2. Go first to get into the right state of mind. This helps you build rapport and make that crucial connection with the other person. Then discover the problem the subject is there to work through.
3. Make some test suggestions to check your subject’s responsiveness.
4. Begin your induction, taking the subject deeper, leading them exactly where you want them to go.
5. Start making deepening suggestions that help make the connection stronger and also ensures you don’t break the trance state.
6. Build on your suggestions and perform any change work that’s required, and then start bringing the session to a close. If no change work was needed, they wouldn’t be there for therapy.
7. Bring your subject back to normal awareness.
Where Does H+ Come From?
If you do a search online, you’ll struggle to find any H+ information.
That’s because H+ is a term that’s exclusive to the Hypnosis Training Academy.
It’s meant to help bring your hypnotherapy skills to the top level.
Making you the best hypnotist you can possibly be.
And to do that you need real empathy, and you need a clear and open mind.
That can be difficult to achieve. After all, you’ve got your own life to live.
You’ve got lots of stuff floating around in your head. Deadlines to meet, bills to pay, people to see.
The world doesn’t stop spinning just because you’re working with a subject.
Your brain is packed full of your own thoughts, your own views, and your own opinions.
Every thought, view, and opinion affects you physically and emotionally. The way you behave, the way you speak, and the way you perform.
For instance, you might find it challenging to help someone stop smoking.
If you’ve never smoked yourself, you probably think smoking is a disgusting habit.
You might do everything you can to avoid contact with smokers.
Polluting the air they way they do.
Leaving cigarette butts everywhere they go.
Reeking of stale tobacco that gets into their hair and their clothing.
For non-smokers, it can be a repulsive activity. But how can you identify with your subject when thoughts like these are swirling around inside you?
You can’t.
To do your subject justice, you need to put them aside.
You need to temporarily push them out of your mind.
You need to be totally non-judgmental.
You need to listen to what your subject is telling you and try to put yourself in their shoes.
So before you can help them reframe their assumptions, you have to reframe your own.
That’s what H+ is.
The power to understand your subject’s inner experience and focus exclusively on them.
By listening – really listening – to what they’re saying.
Using their words to build common ground.
Staying positive and enthusiastic.
Establishing a strong connection that will instantly:
- Make them feel safe
- Make them feel like you understand
- Make them follow your lead
How H+ Makes You A Better Hypnotist
H+ gives you the power to do more.
It helps you develop a better understanding of your subject’s needs.
It helps tear down the boundaries between you and your subject.
It adds depth and intensity to your sessions like nothing else can.
It reinforces the rationale behind doing what you do… … which is solving your subject’s problem.
To do that effectively, you have to really get under their skin.
Not just recognizing their problem, but feeling it. Getting a real sense of it.
How it’s affecting their life – and the most efficient ways for dealing with it. To do that, follow these steps:
1. Build Rapport
Remember that the strength of the connection is crucial.
2. Target The Goal
Find out what your subject’s real goal is. Then work out practical solutions that will motivate them toward achieving it. Any solutions should be ones your subject feels comfortable with and capable of pursuing.
3. Identify The Blocks
What’s stopping your subject from reaching their goal? Dig deep in a gentle way to find out why success has been eluding them so far.
4. Start Reframing
Take your time and begin using reframes to eliminate the blocks. Use Mind Bending Language to get around any possible objections.
5. Keep Digging
Continue asking questions to get a complete picture of how the subject feels. The stronger your empathy with them, the easier it will be for you to present a workable solution.
6. Follow Your Instincts
When you can truly identify with what your subject is going through, choose an appropriate intervention. Don’t try to analyze it too much, but instead go with what you “feel” will produce the best results.
7. Future Pace To Finish
Future pace a new state so your subject no longer sees the issue as a problem.
8. Test Your Work
Once you’ve brought your subject back to waking consciousness, test your work thoroughly to make sure the change is solid and the problem is gone.
If there are still areas of concern, repeat your process until the problem no longer exists when tested Of course, this is just a summary.
To ensure success, you might have to repeat steps 4 through 6. Maybe even a number of times.
That’s not a bad thing, however, because it will make it even easier for you to identify with the other person.
And the more you practice H+, the better you’ll get at it. The better your results will be.
Which means that everyone’s a winner…
Want to learn more about H+? Check out these related articles:
>>The Art Of Using H+ In Hypnosis (Part 1): The Influence Of Freud And Carl Rogers