how did you get hands on experience when you first started in this business???????

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on August 4, 2010 at 12:06pm

I really like the idea of the name badges.

In my experience, setting up with a sign is also a good way to get practice explaining hypnosis and fielding questions. Not everyone who stops to talk will want to be hypnotized right then, but it's important to get good at talking about hypnosis, too.

Before you set up a sign, make a decision about whether you'll hypnotize minors and what kind of consent you want. Personally, I won't hypnotize a minor without parental permission, and I have everyone sign a waiver form on which I also collect their email address so that I can send them more information.

BTW, when asking for parental permission, be careful. Sometimes you'll get kids who claim to be with their parents but are actually with their best friend's parents. Likewise, I hypnotized a boy once because his dad and the woman I thought was his mom said it was okay. I later found out that his real mother--divorced from the dad--hit the roof when she found out her son had been hypnotized. Fortunately, the first person the mom vented to was--unbeknownst to her--a friend and client of mine. :-)

James

Jeffrey Stephens said:

A method that has been very good for many of my students is to make a small sign that says "Free Hypnosis Today" and finding a good place where people hang out.

Recently, with my last several classes, I have been making name tags that read "Hello. My name is ________, and I will be your HYPNOTIST." And another sticker which reads "Have you ever been HYPNOTIZED? Would you like to be... now??" I just print them off on my laser printer using the 2" X 4" shipping labels.

When we wear them on the streets people just come up and ask about them. There is the open door. If you find a good busy location you can hypnotize 10-15 people a day, no problem. In a couple of weeks... that's a lot of practice.

I just had a workshop in Arizona that ran right before the Flagstaff Yoga Festival. We had a booth at the Festival to do free hypnosis for the attendees. ALL of my students got plenty of experience. It was, after all, a Yoga Festival. Maybe you can find something similar in your area and see if they will let you set up a booth to do free hypnosis.

Just my thoughts... and what I do.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Franks on August 4, 2010 at 12:19pm

WOW!!! You already...

have more than enough good pratical suggestions for manifesting your desire in the matter and all that I would do now is to reiterate the many suggestions already made that in moving on these ideas (and on anything for that matter), my experience is that you will do yourself a fantastic service by doing it for the fun of it as in the end that it what I consider it to most be: F U N!

To the success you already are,

Ron

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl Westley on August 4, 2010 at 12:42pm

I am enjoying - and grateful for - these suggestions!

I have had the opportunity to do a few NLP healing sessions with friends and family.

I usually ask someone new: "Do you like mind games?" and then ask them to think of something that irritates the crap out of them... and I walk them through a mini-swish (image fade or, 'click-and-drag' as my niece calls it). Afterward, I often get a surprised look and "How did you do that??" to which I answer: I didn't -- they did!

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Conkle on August 4, 2010 at 3:02pm

This may sound too simple, but just do it. Put yourself out there and do your thing with confidence (contrived confidence works too). Most people know nothing about hypnosis and will be impressed that you even know the word induction. I did my first stage show in a bar on the spur of the moment. I was nervous to be sure, but I figured if it didn't work I would just say that everyone had been drinking too much for the suggestions to take hold...but it worked!...and the more I hypnotized people throughout the night the easier it became and the more confidence I gained. I actually wished I had started on the stage before doing private practice because I learned more about the logistics of hypnotizing people in one night on stage than in all of the time I've been studying it and one full year of private practice.

Something just clicked in my brain that made all of the pieces come together for me that I could have only realized in such a setting. I had to get people in trance quickly. (I even messed up a few times in my technique, but pretended the glitches were supposed to happen so nobody was the wiser and it all worked out anyway. Only another trained hypnotist would have known.) The power of compounding suggestions and fractionation was vital to my show.

That show also brought in several clients to my private practice because as I was hypnotizing folks, I was revealing to the audience exactly what I was doing and what the subject was experiencing...then added what would be the same (or different) when they came to see me in private when they were ready to quit smoking, lose weight, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Eubanks on August 4, 2010 at 3:37pm

I started a practice group. Long time ago it was called Sleepwalkers. Now it's just San Francisco NLP & Hypnosis Practice meetup.

I put up flyers, posted ads on craiglist, invited hypnotists to speak and demonstrate technique. You get all kinds of people to practice with.

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Permalink Reply by Russell Lynn Irby on August 5, 2010 at 4:51pm

I started out helping some of the hardest clients available. Substance dependant persons. I had worked as a substance abuse counselor, then a program director and the success rates for regular therapy were very low. I became certified in hypnotherapy to try to help. I spoke with Dr. Will Horten and took some of his work and used my experience with working with addicts and started performing hypnosis with out clients. The results went from the teens to over fifty percent. The key was that my clientelle had all hit bottom and wanted a change so their subconscious was primed to accept suggestion. I developed a patter where I took them back through time and had their adult self remove their uses and give love and forgiveness to their young self. The end result was the addict's subconscious thinking I have never used, thus helping with the mental dependence. After doing this awhile and getting confidence, I started buying my influence.

I would get a time when I could come to a doctor's office and buy two or three pizza's for thier staff. During lunch I would put on a demonstration where I would remove sensation from a worker. The doctor and nurses would pinch and even lightly smack the employee with no reaction. When the person was brought out they would report having felt no sensation. These doctor's would call me. Finally the local oncologist (cancer doctor) kept hearing of me from these general practioners and called me to help with his hopsice patients. I would help remove the pain in the bodies so their last few days or hours could be spent clear headed with their families. I did the hospice work for fee and it did not take long to develop a good rep among the local medical community. Since this is the group that sends people for weight loss, smoking, pain management, etc. It is much easier to overcome a patients anxiety to hypnosis when their trusted physician is recommending them to you.

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