Portland Oregon Hypnosis Class Schedule:

1. August 27th & 28th
2. September 10th & 11th
3. September 24th & 25th
4. October 1st & 2nd
5. October 15th & 16th
6. October 29th & 30th
7. November 12th & 13th
8. November 19th & 20th
9. December 3rd & 4th
10. December 17th & 18th
11. January 7th & 8th
12. January 21sth & 22nd

See our Hypnosis Training Course page for more details about our Hypnotherapy Certification Program.

Neural linguistic programming, or NLP, sounds a bit like brainwashing, but it’s not. It’s using specific language to re-structure or re-frame how we look at past events and change the effect they have on us and our behaviors. At the Northwest Hypnosis Institute we are learning how to use NLP to identify and make manageable past traumas and the effects they have on us.

I had a bad experience in an elevator one time and just thinking about it would bring back the same intense fear I had felt at that time, even though it was over a year ago. After the class was instructed on how to go about changing the impact of the event, which in my case was removing the fear so I could look at the event and not feel the intense fear, we got with a partner and got to work. My partner asked me where I felt the fear, what it looked like, and then asked if I could manipulate it in any way, or remove it from my body and set it somewhere outside my body. It wouldn’t budge. So I was asked what would move it. I said a crane, so I imagined a crane moving the fear and setting it down outside of my body. Sounds simple, but now when I think of that elevator ride that scared me I no longer feel the fear I had because my partner and I moved it out of my body.

Outside of class I used the same basic technique on a friend of mine. She’d had her mother call her a worthless child when she tried to help in a crisis and since then she has been carrying the memory around and feeling worthless. I decided to see if I could help her the way I was helped in class, but went about it the way we learned to re-frame memories since the memory was what was causing the issue. I asked her to take a picture of the memory. I then asked her some questions about the picture. Was it color or black and white? Could she make it bigger or smaller? Since she could manipulate it in some ways I asked her to change it from color to black and white and asked her about the people in the picture. I asked her if she could change them into cartoon characters. When she could do that to, I asked her if she felt better about that memory. She said she did and a couple of minutes later while we were discussing how it worked with me too she gave a little giggle. When I asked her why she laughed, she said when she thought about that memory she saw it as a cartoon and thought it was funny.

Neural linguistic programming can help take a traumatic memory and help it have a less negative impact on your life. This is yet another way we are learning to help people at the Northwest Hypnosis Institute.

If you are interested in learning more about NLP -visit our Hypnotherapy School description page.

As students at the Northwest Hypnosis Institute we’re learning how to successfully build rapport with other people using various techniques. These techniques have many different elements which we practiced in class with each other. The three basic elements involved being body language, voice and behavior, which are broken down into more specific areas.

Reading body language is something we do everyday. It’s how we know a co-worker is stressed out. We read their stiff posture and tense shoulders. When we meet people we read their body language too. If they have an open posture with their arms relaxed at their sides, we do the same to build rapport. By mimicking their open stance and appearing non-threatening, you’re encouraging them to remain calm and not go on the defensive. You’re building trust. People are comfortable around the familiar and by gently copying a person’s body language you are like them, and there for are familiar and able to be trusted. Like wise if you encounter a person who’s taken on a defensive posture with their arms crossed over their chest, you can help put them at ease by approaching them with an open and non-threatening posture which can relay trust and diffuse their apprehension.

Another technique hypnotherapists use to help build trust and rapport is through the use of their voice. By pitching the tone and volume of your voice as close as naturally possible to the client’s and matching their talking speed, you can also project familiarity resulting in their relaxing and trusting you. And like using your body language to put someone at ease, you can do the same with your voice. Keeping it gentle and non-aggressive, you can make someone feel safe and again, trust you.

Your behavior also contributes to your ability to build rapport with someone. If you show an interest in subjects someone else finds interesting, they will open up to you. Just like if you go to a sporting event, people who cheer for the same team will congregate together and feel at ease with one another since there is that commonality and shared interest. They feel accepted and therefore at ease.

While in class we broke off into groups of three to practice these rapport building skills. One person would say something and one person would mirror or mimic that person’s body language and voice while the third acted as coach. The coach would tell us how successful we were at mirroring the body language and voice and how we could improve. Then we would change rolls so each of us acted as speaker, mirror and coach. What we all discovered was that when you do mirror someone you have to be careful how you do it. If you’re too obvious about it, it can be creepy being the person mirrored. But if you’re subtle enough to get your actions past the conscious mind, you can be very successful at building rapport.

If you are interested in learning more about rapport, hypnotherapy & NLP -visit our Hypnotherapy School description page.

People naturally use anchors or triggers everyday in life and don’t even realize it. It’s that song that reminds you of that someone special, or the smell of a certain cologne that reminds you of when your dad sat you on his lap and read to you. Triggers can also be associated with negative experiences. Such as the anxiety you feel when you pass through the intersection where you were in an accident.

Learning what triggers an anchor and the feeling associated with it is only part of what we learned in class. We learned that through hypnosis we can take a client back as far as childhood if need be and discover what is causing anxiety to a certain activity or situation and create a new anchor and trigger a more positive feeling association.

To illustrate this, Bruce had us split into groups of two to create anchors in the present for us to be able to call upon in the future. For one person in the class she anchored feeling happy to smiling, so when she feels down she can smile and the feeling of being happy will be triggered. I have anxiety when having to ride an elevator, so I anchored feeling calm to the turning of a ring I always wear. That may sound a little odd, but I learned that I have already unknowingly anchored a feeling of comfort with that ring so we just added calm to it with the activity of turning it around my finger.

In addition to anchors that can be created or changed to elicit positive feelings, such as calm or confidence, we learned that there is what’s called addictive anchors. These are things such as food, cigarettes, and alcohol. Things we associate with being comforting, calming or being a good time. This association is what advertisers rely on exploiting on a sub-conscious level to get us to buy their products. These are also the anchors that we as hypnosis students are learning about and how to change or even remove to aid in weight loss or the stopping of smoking or other addictive behaviors. But manipulating these triggers so they will be permanent can take more than one session. Sometimes up to six sessions are required to re-enforce the anchor to a permanent state.

Another way to re-enforce anchors is through ritual. Athletes and actors are commonly known to have rituals to help them focus for the game or production they are preparing for. These rituals can be as simple as the athlete making sure he puts his left shoe on first to the actress who makes herself a cup of tea to drink while going over her lines before getting into costume. What ever the ritual, it anchors back to feeling focused and prepared.

Learning about anchors and triggers is valuable information. Being able to practice it in a classroom setting with our fellow students and hearing their ideas and feedback is what gives us the confidence and experience to build on.

If you are interested in learning more about anchors, hypnosis & NLP, please visit our Hypnotherapy Class page.

According to David Mason, an author of many popular inductions, the process involves a combination of suggestions, deepeners and tests for depth of trance. According to my notes, things can get confusing, quickly. After a page or two of mad scribbling, I figured the best way to keep track of the information would be in real time of a typical session. I thought if I could fit all the information I was getting from Bruce and all the material from our Hypnosis Training Manual under that simple system, I could learn more effectively.

For example, before you even start your induction, you have to “read” the client to ascertain what type of induction might work best for them. I can do this “pre-talk”, just as David Mason promotes for inductions: by suggestions, deepeners and tests. These “pre-talk” techniques we learned in an earlier class.

Then you have to build rapport. Again, I can do this with our arsenal of suggestions, deepeners and tests. For example, is a client more inclined for a passive induction or a more aggressive one? These types of questions are best answered through experience, an experience best garnered in a classroom setting. In fact, I don’t see how you could get it right without being in a hypnotherapy school.

Once we have “read” the client and established rapport, we choose an induction we have ascertained as best for the subject. As we study our selected induction in class, we notice that throughout the guided meditation or trance story, there are those same type of tests to see exactly where we are in the hypnosis process. Many of these tests are subtle, some are more direct. Now somewhere along the line, the client and I should be ready and willing to go as deep into a hypnotic state as need be to accomplish the task at hand. We have established trust and rapport. We have expectations and I have permission. I reassure along the way and introduce convincers to ensure we are right on schedule. Every client is different, and we are being shown there are vast numbers of ways how best to serve that client.
Yet once again, instead of scrambling with all the information, I organize in a progression of a successful session. I break up my session in three parts; 1. I tell the client, “We are going to go there.” 2. I assure the client that, ” We are there,” and 3. after hypnosis depth testing, ” We’re doing ______ here.” The blank is for the particular need of the client.

Another way of saying it is, 1. ” We’re going to do this.” 2. “We’re doing this.” and 3. “We’re doing this to solve ________.” Then I can put all my notes, my scripts and my guidelines under those three categories.

Sounds simple enough, but right from the start, it was obvious it was going to take a good deal of practice. Now it was time to pair off and give the sample inductions a few run-throughs with Bruce listening. I worked with a young executive type female who seemed to be inclined to respond best to a passive, quided meditation to get into a hypnotic trance. Sure enough, once I was able to get the rhythm and tone of my voice together, she was in a hypnotic state of relaxation, feeling safe and secure as I read. I knew this by noticing her responses to test questions and reassuring her that she was doing well. I also noticed her breathing and worked my speech pattern accordingly. There was also no resistance when I “slipped her a convincer.” She was obviously in a hypnotic state. How far in I couldn’t really tell because of my lack of experience. Once I brought her out of it, we switched roles, then discussed our insights on where we got it right and what needed to be improved upon. We then shared it with the whole class. The most important thing I took from school this weekend was the experience of ” I can do this,” and the knowledge that, ” This can really work.”

If you are interested in attending our college of hypnosis, please visit our College Hypnosis Training Course page.

In the newspaper business, the way you look at things is critical. Finding those little details, or a new slant on how things may appear can make or certainly break a story. In our first training class, I’m learning the same holds true. We started by discussing in detail how different people communicate differently. Not only in speech patterns, but in non-verbal communication as well. This was my introduction to the portion of our certification training known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP training. The first thing that really hit home was that somewhere between our study of Sensory-Specific Words and NLP Eye Accessing Cues, it became quite clear that what Bruce was teaching us in his class, I had been doing for years without knowing it! Now the guessing game is pretty much over. Not only do I now know what to look for with more certainty, but I have years of scientifically and experimentally proved data right in front of me to refer to. After just one hour of study, I could already use this systematic approach to better ‘”read people” and make it easier for all concerned to “get the best out of them.” If only my editor was here for the ride! He might very well pay for the whole course, and then some.

We paired up for first hand experience of these approaches straight away. I recall the Nurse Practitioner of the group sat next to a Cook, a Real Estate Agent with a Veterinarian, a Social Service Counselor of some sort and a Software Engineer, and then there was Theresa and myself. Theresa is a mother of three with two dogs, and apparently she can’t be hypnotized ( mentioned twice with pride). Well, we’ll see. She talked in jest (?) during everyone’s brief introduction that even though she lives in Astoria, Oregon, one reason she is taking our hypnotherapy course in Portland is to hypnotize her husband of 35 years to help finish what he starts. “He’s a big dreamer,” she said “and I love him all the more for it, but I just wish he would stick to one thing at a time and finish it. I wouldn’t even care if it flopped, just so he would have some sense of finishing what he started. And I could feel a part of it, too.” Now that’s what I would call marriage counseling at its practical best.

Professional hypnotherapy is emerging as one of the hottest professional career opportunities of this decade.

The good news for people searching for a professional opportunity in these economically challenged times is that a growing public awareness of the value and real life impact of hypnotherapy is creating a huge demand for skilled, trained professional hypnotherapists. So, whether you are just looking for a new career or you are passionate about helping people, your timing just couldn’t be better!

Seeking the assistance of hypnotherapists has long been one of the best kept secrets of high achievers and the most successful people; including doctors, lawyers, business professionals, top entertainers and sports stars. [ read more ]

February 27th, 2010 at 9am will be the beginning of our next Hypnotherapy Certification course.

We’ve had quite a bit of interest in this class and we definitely are going to have a full class this time around.

Just a reminder to all of you who haven’t signed up yet – Now is the time.  Sign up here.

SCHOLARSHIPS Still Available.