4 Steps to Excellent Hypnosis Without a Script
By Erika Flint, BCH, A+CPHI, OB
Many think hypnosis is anchored to reading scripts to clients. Search any online hypnosis group and one of the top questions will be, “Does anyone have a script for XYZ?”
Yet the truth in modern hypnosis, is we want to reprogram the subconscious mind by removing limiting beliefs and emotions and create new expansive and purposeful beliefs - and there are much more effective ways to do that than by using the classic approach of script reading. The more modern approach is to utilize insight based techniques.
How We Use Insight Based Work in 4 steps
Insight Based Techniques: Age Regression, Forgiveness of Self and Others, and Parts Mediation.
An insight-based technique is grounded in the concept of creating a-ha moments - where everything changes. Ideas old and new are considered together - for the first time ever in the mind. Parts of the brain that are being “lit up” with blood are firing together - new ideas, shifts in states of being and conscious occur and can be life-transforming and lead to permanent resolution of past issues!
Age Regression(AR) and Forgiveness of Self (FOS) and Others (FOS), and Parts Mediation Therapy (PMT) , are powerful, emotionally charged insight generating techniques that are driven by the client’s responses while they are in a powerful state of mind which helps us get to the source of and resolve issues quickly. They bring us to the core elements keeping the issue alive in our client’s life and allow us to transform old feelings into new understanding and new ways of being.
2. Clarity of outcome.
It’s critical to have succinct clarity on what success is to our client - what their dream come true looks like, feels like, and who they are as a person when these changes transpire. This is the power of the clarity of outcome form, or benefits form that every client should fill out. The hypnotist should go over this with your client and agree to each element. In my practice this is such an important part of the process and clients never get it right - every single benefits form requires careful review and updating to ensure we’re working on the right problem! It becomes a contract of sorts between you and the client, and serves as “this is what we’re working on together - these are the things you most desperately want”. When our clients come to us with a laundry list of things they want, we can ask, “If I could snap my fingers to remove this problem instantly, what does your life look like now?” the client will tell you exactly what they want and you will help them.
We then discuss their goals with them to ensure their desired outcome has a measurable result to their success, and that their goals are about what they WILL do and not just the absence of their issue. For example: If I get 7 hours of sleep each night, I’ll have more energy to complete one page of writing a day, versus: If I sleep more I won’t be tired anymore. 7 hours a night and one page a day are measurable wins so that our client knows exactly when they’ve succeeded. These goals tied to success become hypnotic suggestions for our client - and it’s what they wanted and came up with, with our help.
3. Repetition
Repeat their benefits back to them and make sure you are using their language. This is where repetition becomes useful. By repeating the client’s own words, you are creating the most supportive environment for their subconscious to accept real, lifelong changes that reflect their desired outcome. Note that the most powerful hypnotic suggestions come from your client!
4. Excellent Listening Skills
Use your excellent listening skills throughout your sessions and let the client write the script for you. “I’ve changed because now I know… and I’ve changed because now I feel…” are powerful segues for you to relay their benefits in the present tense. “Because you’ve changed, NOW you can/know/feel the <benefits as described by the client>.”
By freeing yourself from a script through active listening and your client’s feedback, you are creating the most efficient environment for cultivating lasting changes, which will empower your client for a lifetime of confidence and peace.
Watch the video below for even more in depth insight!
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this article and episode and how you like to work without a script!
