Portland’s own NW Hypnosis Institute is now taking enrollment for their 2012 Professional NGH Hypnosis Training Course

People have all sorts of reasons for becoming skillful with hypnosis.  What’s your reason?  To help others?  To help yourself? To change behaviors or feelings on an subconscious level?  The list of things you can do with hypnosis is endless.  To learn more about the Northwest Hypnosis Institute’s next Portland Hypnosis Training Course see their Professional NGH Hypnosis Training page.

The biggest problem I had with smoking was the modeling I was providing for my children. Stopping smoking was a thundering message in itself to my children about my values and taking action to make caring for myself a priority! It wouldn’t matter what I said or did, if I continued to suck on a cigarette, the message would be that smoking is acceptable. Portland is a great place to raise healthy children and I didn’t want mine watching their parent participating in harmful behavior which ran contraire to my espoused views living a healthy lifestyle and taking care of oneself. Sucking up poisonous gases was not something I wanted to show my children was okay. Nor is it okay to mistreat ourselves. Addressing hard problems? Tackling a tough addiction? Not giving up? You bet! Let’s show the kids that this is how we roll!

Because I was finally successful, (I haven’t smoked for 15 years) I wanted to learn why and how hypnosis works and have considered for sometime learning to hypnotize and help others. My friends knew I had used hypnosis to quit smoking and began being interested in hypnotherapy also. But when they asked me what, exactly, a hypnotherapist does, if hypnosis works and, if so, (eye brows raised) how, I was unable to provide concrete answers. I know it works because hypnosis worked for me and I have spoken with countless co-workers and others, who have used hypnotherapy to quit smoking, lose weight and deal better with anxiety and more.

Being a critical thinker, I wanted solid information. From Wikipedia (September 20, 2011) I learned…

The U.S. (Department of Labor) Directory of Occupational Titles (D.O.T. 079.157.010) supplies the following definition:

Hypnotherapist –

• Induces hypnotic state in client to increase motivation or alter
  behavior pattern through hypnosis.
• Consults with client to determine the nature of problem.
  Prepares client to enter hypnotic states by explaining how
  hypnosis works and what client will experience.
• Tests subject to determine degrees of physical and emotional
  suggestibility.
• Induces hypnotic state in client using individualized methods and
  techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation of test results and
  analysis of client’s problem.
• May train client in self-hypnosis conditioning.

The more I learned the more I wanted to learn! Last summer I impulsively and enthusiastically bought 5 books on hypnosis from a local and independently owned bookstore named after a prominent street in SW Portland. (Starts with a P) One of the things I am excited about is the ability to help folks with problems without using drugs, and a method that works fairly quickly. After lots of summer barbeques, raft trips and a couple of home improvement projects, sadly I must report that by September, on my mighty quest to learn hypnosis, I had read grand total of exactly 56 pages of one lone book. Clearly my path to learning how to hypnotize others was not to be a self directed one. But I really wanted to learn to help folks.

At this point I signed up for a class to learn how to hypnotize others to help them quit smoking, to relax, and live a healthier life using hypnotherapy or nlp. (neuro-linguistic programming) I have spent one weekend so far learning and am looking forward to more. The hypnotherapy course is 150 hours long and is very through. My friends have volunteered to have me “practice “on them. This should be good fodder for future entertainment and articles.

Another helpful resource has been the Portland Hypnosis Center. You may want to check this resource out. These articles opened my eyes to the wide range of problems hypnotherapy can assist with:

• addictions
• bed wetting
• body image
• controlling spending
• depression
• fears
• forgiveness
• gambling problems
• habit patterns
• problem solving
• self confidence
• self esteem
• sleep disorders
• sports performance
• stopping smoking
• stress & anxiety
• weight loss

I will keep you posted as this learning journey continues. But in the meantime, I
would encourage everyone, but especially parents, to consider using hypnotherapy
to help you with problems and to be the best role model possible. Hats off to all the
parents!

-Lisa Becker

Just as hypnosis can help a smoker stop smoking, it can help a smokeless tobacco user quit their habit. There are essentially three parts to the addiction to smokeless tobacco. Just as a smoker will light up in response to stress a person who chews tobacco will grab a dip in response to anxiety. And sometimes they will dip for pleasure just as a smoker will enjoy that cigarette after a meal. The second part of the addiction is purely habit. Just as we are conditioned to make it a habit to buy popcorn and a soda pop at the movies or make sure the front door is locked when we leave the house, for some it is habit to chew tobacco when they drive or dip when they are watching sports. The third and possibly weakest part is physical addiction. Sounds counter intuitive, but it is not. Once the body has gone seven days without nicotine, it is out of your system and your body no longer craves it. It’s the psychological aspects that can keep people addicted. And those are the aspects that hypnosis addresses.

Hypnosis can go into a person’s subconscious and modify their stress responses. Combine it with relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, or breathing and visualization and the person can calm down or relax with out the aid of smokeless tobacco. Thus eliminating the need for the crutch of smokeless tobacco to feel relaxed.

Breaking the unconscious habit of dipping while engaging in certain activities can also be addressed with hypnosis. While under hypnosis the person can be guided to see themselves doing the activities they would normally do with a dip of chew in their mouth, without it. They would essentially see themselves living their life free of smokeless tobacco and being happier for it. Once the psychological addiction has been broken, the breaking of the physical addiction is right along with it.

Seeing oneself living their life happy and free of smokeless tobacco while under hypnosis is a powerful vision. So powerful that it can break the psychological addiction that keeps a person addicted to smokeless tobacco. All it takes is getting started with that first hypnosis session at Portland hypnosis.

If you are in need of help to quit chewing tobacco and would like to learn more about how hypnosis can specifically help you – see our GET Hypnosis in Portland page.

The reasons men start gambling, the games they play and at what age they start usually differ from women according to the Good Gambling Guide. Men usually start their gambling habit at an earlier age, around 35 years old, and play the more competitive table games like blackjack, in an attempt to beat the house and show how skillful they are. Women, on the other hand, usually start their gambling habit a little later in life, around 45. Women also have a tendency to gamble at games such as slots where they are alone and the game requires minimal or no skill.

Just as the games and ages differ, so do the typical reasons between why men start a gambling habit and why women do. Men will usually gamble due to low self-esteem and insecurities. When they win they see themselves in a better light, and feel better about themselves. But when the gambling high dissipates and they realize how much money they have lost they also see the other problems they have created for themselves. Often being financial binds, debts and relationship issues.

Women tend to start gambling as a way to deal with stress, depression or loneliness. They will also use gambling as a way to escape the frustrations of their jobs, bad relationships or failing marriages. All of which gambling will exacerbate when the money and excitement are gone. And so the cycle will start again.

Hypnosis can help break the cycle of compulsion by getting to the roots of the compulsion and giving the gambler other tools to deal with life issues. Hypnosis can aid in boosting self-esteem, and how one views him or her self. It can help with stress management and dealing with life issues.

Hypnosis is not a cure all or an instant fix, but it can help boost the will power of a person who wants to stop compulsive gambling. And the thrill of beating the compulsion, feeling better about themselves and healthier relationships will make the person want to stay away from gambling and the problems it creates.

If you need help with gambling addiction and would like to learn more about how hypnosis can specifically help you – see our GET Hypnosis in Portland page.

There are two basic reasons why a person bites their nails.  One is that it is a habit, something that the person does without realizing it such as when he or she is watching TV or a movie, or they do it even out of boredom.  The other reason is that it is a compulsion, something that the person has to do and will even interrupt other activities to bite their nails.  When this is the case, the compulsion serves a purpose, whether it is to relax the person or deliver some sort of pleasure, or sometimes when the person is bored it provides a needed degree of stimulation.

When the reason for nail biting is that it is habit, we can use hypnosis to program the brain to recognize when the person is about to start biting their nails, and make them consciously aware that they’re about to bite their nails so they can make the choice to bite or not.  Sometimes by making the person aware and giving them a choice between biting their nails and another activity, such as a brief breathing exercise given to the client by the hypnotist, is enough to eventually break the cycle.

But when nail biting is a compulsion it can be a little more difficult to get under control, but not impossible.  It just takes a little more time and effort.  The reason being that it “feels good” and provides short term satisfaction, relaxation, or other feelings of contentment or stimulation.  In this case the hypnotist will use neural linguistic programming techniques to essentially program a rejection to nail biting.  And in some cases where anxiety is also a factor to the compulsion, hypnosis along with relaxation exercises are used in addition to the neural linguistic programming to ease the anxiety.

When something as seemingly simple as shaking someone’s hand when you meet causes anxiety and distress because of nail biting, there is help.  Hypnosis and neural linguistic programming can ease the feelings of social stress and reprogram the compulsion to bite one’s nails.  It’s not a quick fix, but in fact requires dedication and patience to overcome a behavior that has been practiced many thousands of times over a number of years.  But the end result and the ease felt in social situations is worth the time and effort required.

Pain lets us know something is wrong, and if we get rid of the pain all together we can potentially cause permanent damage to a recently injured body part. With hypnosis we can lessen the pain to make it manageable, but no so much that we forget there is something wrong. By having the person see or imagine seeing the pain where it hurts in the body and giving it a shape and a color we can begin to help the person manipulate it. We would ask the person what shape it is, the color, and then ask if the person can make it bigger or, ideally, smaller. We can then ask if the person can change the color and make it less intense. By making the pain smaller and a less intense color, it would ease the pain to a more tolerable level, but still leave enough as a reminder not to over do it.

For the relief of pain from a healed injury or arthritis, where the possibility of further injury or damage is minimal, we can use hypnosis to remove the pain fully. This can be done a couple of different ways. We can start with the same process used with the easing of pain from a recent injury, but rather than just lessening the pain we can try to remove it all together. We would have the person imagine removing the pain from the body and setting somewhere else out of their body, or having the person change the color to the color it is when it doesn’t hurt. The other way to accomplish alleviating the pain is to have the person make the area go numb, as if injected with Novocain. Having the person imagine the actual injection of Novocain, as long as they’re not squeamish about needles, may be necessary to complete the scenario of the area going numb, with the end result being no more pain.

Sometimes the pain isn’t from a physical injury, but a psychological reaction to an event where a person feels responsible for the less than desirable outcome, and uses the pain as a form of self punishment with out even knowing it. In this case a hypnotherapist would start by asking about when the pain started, and the circumstances around it. Sometimes just identifying the reason for the guilt and re-examining it is enough to relieve the pain. When that isn’t enough the hypnotherapist may have the person reframe the memory, which would alleviate the pain and when looked back upon wouldn’t cause the same distress. Taking the memory and seeing it as a snapshot photo, and manipulating it from color to black and white, or vice versa, and distorting the subjects in the photo to a less stressful scene will make the memory easier to deal with and therefore relieving the pain of the perceived guilt.

Hypnosis is a valuable tool in the management of pain. This alternative to pain medication is becoming more and more accepted, implemented and recommended for those who can not or will not take pain pills. If you’re one of these people, Portland Hypnosis can help you.

Professional NGH Hypnosis Certification right here in Portland, Oregon

The Northwest Hypnosis Institute’s next Portland Hypnotherapy Certification Course is scheduled to start Sat., Sept. 10th. To learn more see their Complete Professional NGH Hypnotherapy Training Course page.

Dr Simon Duff, a forensic psychologist, investigated the effects of hypnosis on people living with dementia and compared the treatment to mainstream health-care methods. He found that people living with dementia who had received hypnosis therapy showed an improvement in concentration, memory and socialisation. Relaxation, motivation and daily activities also improved with the use of hypnosis. It also stands to reason that people who notice the onset of dementia may become depressed and anxious. Hypnosis, which is also a tool for relaxation, can really help the mind concentrate on something positive while relieving stress. Dr Dan Nightingale, co-author of the research and a leading dementia consultant, adds that “evidence to date has shown that we can enhance the quality of life for people living with dementia through the correct use of hypnosis. We have now developed a course for clinicians who wish to incorporate hypnosis into health care plans.”

Hypnosis and hypnotherapy can help change both the physiological effects of aging and well as the psychological ones. Hypnosis is commonly used to regulate the heartbeat and slow down bleeding in an emergency. By fully engaging your emotions in positive suggestions you are allowing your unconscious mind to heal your body. But your conscious mind has to allow it to. You have to allow it to. When people get older it’s natural to think about times when their body and mind were in a better place. With a simple induction, hypnosis patients can go there and concentrate on that place. With a good hypnotherapist they can stay in that place or return there when they want to. From there they give “permission” for the subconscious to operate. They just have to get their conscious mind out of the way. Simple, but not so easy. A certified hypnotherapist is trained to see the signs of this happening then taking the patient deeper.

Hypnotherapy sessions for seniors with Alzheimer’s is working to help with short term memory retention, memory of significant life events, keeping active and motivation to avoid depressive states. Relaxation techniques as part of an initial induction session taught at The Northwest Hypnosis Institute Hypnosis Certification School is a good start to all of the above. Sessions are also working for Alzheimer’s care givers, which can be a very stressful situation on it’s own. When you’re up against the wall, willingness is not so hard to muster. And willingness is key to progress. Hypnotherapy is again giving us access to the physician within. From there, we have to allow our internal doctor to operate.

When I first met Bruce Terrill, the certified instructor for The Northwest Hypnosis Institute, I asked him about on-line hypnosis certification courses. I wanted to know if I could get certified and practise without going to school here Portland, Oregon. Bruce gave me a very direct “Yes”. There where no ‘if’s”, “ands”, or “buts” to follow. Just yes, or “yeah sure”. I liked that about him and it got me thinking. And looking. On-line hypnosis training sure looks like big business. Big business in the frist place because there are so many courses to choose from. Most look somewhat reputable and all of them have a tone of well-meaning. Who to seriously consider would have to come down to how it all hit me, what associations they had, and the price, of course. It looks like certification for hypnosis therapy can be obtained for as little as a few hundred dollars. Monthly dues seem to be running on average of about fifty dollars. What the dues are for was not clear on the site I was on. At the same site there was also a great deal of things that are given away at “a value of “. The average “value” of these valuable assets being given away are promoted at about an average of $250. This is a big red flag for me. The whole thing turned out to be extremely unprofessional, and the “Master Practitioner” at the site had no name and the “certification” came from nowhere. Most sites at least have some association they are affiliated with. The best ( or worst) of it was one part of the course that was given away for free at a value of $250 was instructions on learning the course in your sleep!. I kid you not – according to the aforementioned site, you can become a certified hypnotist in your sleep. In a deep hypnotic sleep, no less.

Of course this is an extreme example of something of value getting seriously discounted. And yet, I can see the benefit. My bet is that there is going to be a fair number of people that sign up for this sort of thing that will not be able to open and sustain a viable practise, yet they will be able to open and sustain themselves in a new and better way. Again, hypnosis works! Everybody wants to get their money’s worth. These folks are going to learn how to hypnotize themselves, if nothing else. The people that sign up for on-line courses are going to convince themselves for awhile that it’s going to work. Then there’s going to be a hundred different things that come up that are not going to fit in with their plans. At Northwest, I’m learning that willingness is critical to successful hypnosis. What I am not willing to do is try to help people through hypnotherapy without being familiar and confident with every aspect of what’s involved. I need to practice with my fellow students, for sure. I need to be certified through an organization like The National Guild of Hypnotists and have access to their support. It’s also important to be able to make mistakes in a setting where those mistakes won’t cause any harm. Most importantly however, is that I need to find out – for real – what works for me first, then I can see with assurance what works for others.

1. I could find out how realistic it was for me to make a living in the field without committing to a course.
2. I could ascertain if the course outlines where similar and if I could get ( to some degree) the same level of confidence in a home study course as in person, and
3. How much money I might save by taking hypnotherapy school online.

I thought these were legitimate questions and would urge anyone looking into hypnotherapy as a career to explore the same as I did. I noticed straight away that there were many courses through hypnotherapy “schools” or “institutions” or even “foundations” that offered pages and pages of free downloads to study. So I did just that and started reading the material. Most of them started with a brief history of hypnosis and more than a brief outline of all the popular misconceptions of what hypnotherapy was not.

The one that I chose to continue with seemed well planned out, with chapters dedicated to subject matter considered imperative to be an effective hypnotherapist. They also offered online email support and phone support. So again, I did just that and emailed them with a simple question on the boundaries of my practice once I completed their course. I received an email back in two days saying that the email service was for students paying for the course. This seemed fair enough, however, I figured the time it took them to write me the email they could have answered the question as well. But that’s just me and my analytical mind trying to find something wrong with anything. I then tried the phone and don’t you know a fellow picked up. Our conversation was lively and informative. The gentleman on the other end was obviously experienced and I really liked the way he presented the prospects of not only being a certified hypnotherapist but also of being a skilled hypnotist. He had some good stories and we must have spent almost a half an hour on the phone. I was inspired. He urged me to read all the course material and then call him back. This was more that 300 pages, but I thought “why not? I’m going to have to read them anyway.” With all the scripts ( not included in the free download ), the additional bound material sent by mail and the accreditation, the institution would charge me a total of $699. Not too steep for a new career and I could decide after I read most of the course material if I wanted to go for it. I had seen some online courses that were less expensive, but the majority of hypnotherapy courses offered over the internet ran about $1000, with many offering extra services for extra dollars.

After reading another brief history of hypnosis, the first exercise was Chevreul’s Pendulum Experiment. The example shown consists of a circle with cross-hairs quartering it. The letter A is at 9 A.M., the letter B at 3 P.M., the letter D at 6 P.M. and the letter C at 12 o’clock. The idea is to make your mind swing a pendulum from your extended arm any way you want it to go with the help of the guidelines of the circle – up and down, counterclockwise as well as clockwise. I didn’t have a pendulum so I used a tea bag. With a bit of practice and concentration it seemed to work. Now I didn’t know if I was a born hypnotherapist or if this would work for anyone or simply that the involuntary muscles in my arm were responding to my mental command. If it was the latter, which made sense to me, then I knew that my first exercise in hypnotherapy was both a hoax and convincing proof in the power of the subconscious. My conscious mind could certainly not move the tea bag without moving my arm, but I intuitively understood that my muscles could respond to the natural operator within me – that operator being my subconscious. This posed a series of more questions that I figured would have to be answered for real.
( continue to Online Hypnotherapy Part 2 )