How I started into hypnosis; how have others started?

I started my path into hypnosis by readings the following books:

Hypnosis for Beginners by William W. Hewitt

Professional Hypnotism Manual by John G Kappas

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy by Calvin D. Banyan & Gerald F. Kein

Hypnosis for Change by Hadley & Staudacher

Ronning Guide to Modern Stage Hypnosis by Geoffrey Ronning

Hypnotherapy by Dave Elman

I watched many training videos by Gil Boyne, Geoff Ronning, Gerald Kein and Jeffrey Stephens, not to mention copious hours of YouTube J

I recently finished a few courses; Jeff Stephens weekend series, Geoffrey Ronnings EKG system, OMNI's Basic - Advanced and HMI foundations.

I started various Yahoo groups to find like minded people that I could practice with along with joining multiple groups over the internet, similar to “HypnoThoughts”, to expand my knowledge.

Now you probably wonder why I am posting this…. The truth is I am just an average guy that was intrigued by hypnosis and started to practice.  My job has nothing to do with the medical field or entertainment; it was just something that fascinated me. I was finding myself more amazed by the potential of hypnosis and realizing how long hypnosis has been used in every aspect of well being.

I found myself today looking back at when I started and remembered how I struggled to wrap my mind around hypnosis with little to no support locally, along with being thought of as an odd fellow for pursuing such a unique method of helping people. This was when I realized that all of my life I have spent trying to figure out how things work and what can I do to make things better. I work as an industrial maintenance engineer and part time Soldier; figuring out how to fix or improve things is the pure nature of what I do.

My intent with the post was to share with all of the new hypnotist that it doesn’t matter what occupation, age, race, gender or belief system you have, if you are here then you are on the path to being a hypnotist, whether you work on stage, in an office, on the street or just for fun at home.

Gather all of the information you can, work with as many people as possible and have fun with it.

Ask every question, test every hypothesis and study every person’s methods and create a method that works best for you.

Continue to practice even if you have no one. If you are mowing or driving, why not take advantage of the time to say the words out loud, no one will hear you. You can build your comfort level up for when you are using a real person.

There is nothing more exciting than using your induction and watching that person just drop and follow your suggestions so beautifully.

Confidence is the key, continue to build yours through practice and that confidence will be detected by your subject and success will follow.

Respectfully,

Kevin Atwell - Hypnotist