***Video below***
Hi All
This video is a little off the beaten track for the HWT blog, because it is looking at hypnosis beyond the context of ‘hypnosis’.
One of the key ideas behind Hypnosis Without Trance is that hypnosis is not about special states that raise suggestibility, it is about utilising the everyday cognitive processes we use to organise our perception and experience of reality. So what are these processes doing when we are not using them in ‘hypnosis’?
They are running our lives!
And this is where the real power of hypnosis (or, more accurately, understanding the mechanisms in which it is built) lies – utilising the understandings to create a better life!
Here’s the vid! (and, as always, your comments and questions are most welcome.)
httpv://youtu.be/WswQuAG9cfQ
98 Comments
mike
June 13, 2012de-hypnosis… more important than hypnosis to me …more please
admin
June 13, 2012I will definitely do more stuff along these lines Mike. The question is whether it will be within Hypnosis Without Trance or not. It may be a totally fresh project.
All the very best
James
Mrkmark
June 14, 2012Go ahead James tell us more
edwin
June 14, 2012Nice video and interesting. Do you have more informations/links on the hypnosis beyond trance?
Thanks
Edwin
admin
June 14, 2012Hi Edwin
The whole site is information on hypnosis beyond trance!
If you haven’ checked out the members area, that would be a great place to start!
All the very best
James
edwin
June 14, 2012The following questions are:
I assume unwanted hypnotic loops can be characterised also has habits / routines that drive our live
How do you dectect unwanted hypnotic loops / habits/ routines?
And following step once detected how do you de-hypnotise people / yourself (more difficult) of these hypnotic loops / habits/ routines?
admin
June 14, 2012Hi Edwin
First answer: Yes!
Second answer: They should be self evident (the habits, behaviours etc. that are not serving us well).
Third Answer: to complicated to go into here in the comment section, but I’ll be sure to follow up with something that gets into that at least a little.
All the very best
James
Ken Stofft
August 1, 2012James, I’ve found that they are not so easy to identify, esp if you view the “loops” as belief patterns we hold that don’t serve our best interests. We can be “blind” to them until they are “tripped over”. For example, I held a belief pattern of invisibility for too many years. Thinking it was safer to be invisible, was treated as invisible too often while growing up, found myself being invisible as an illusion of safety, etc. This loop or belief pattern didn’t manifest itself consciously until I started to identify it, saw how it was working in my life via decisions I was making, and determined to change it with a new ‘loop’ or ‘belief pattern’.
admin
August 1, 2012What you say about our loops not being easy to identify is absolutely true, Ken – we can’t easily see what we are seeing the world through.
But whilst we can’t spot the loops directly, we can look at our habits of living and evaluate how well they are working out for us. This provides a clue as to where to look for the loop. Problem habits are often ‘stand out’ for people.
Becoming able to disembed from loops and see them is a skill that one develops through practise. (This skill – the skill disembedding and attending with consciousness – is one of the foundational skills being developed through the Neuro Linguistic Influencer training).
Although the skill takes dedication to develop, it is IMO one of the most life changing skills one can possess.
I will get another video up on this soon!
All the very best
James
Ken Stofft
August 1, 2012Thanks, James. As an aside, you may be interested in the work of Joseph Gelfer in his “The Masculinity Conspiracy”. It speaks directly at how influential cultural stereotypes around what it means to be “masculine” have been, are, and can be so detrimental to men (and women).
mike
June 14, 2012great idea
Doc Regal
June 14, 2012Great topic, James. Getting loopy, one seeks resolve. De-hypnotization is a powerful approach.
cat
June 14, 2012Brilliant, yes may we have some more please:)
Robert Schryvers
June 14, 2012Brilliant as usual, I couldn’t have said it better, and you know you are on to something big.
jose luis
June 14, 2012I concurre with you in the insight about the importance and trascendence of de- hypnotize ourselves. To model how we are hypnotizing ourselves dyfunctionally and functionally , and how we are hypntizing others conciously or unconciously, functionally or disfunctionally. Thanks for the insight.
George
June 14, 2012I was hoping you would to go deeper into the concept of de-hypnotizing clients. It is certainly true that old loops are keeping all of us stuck in old behaviors and thus old outcomes.
Please present methods to use hypnosis-without-trance to break these loops and install new useful ones. I look forward to you continuing this set of teachings with clear examples and applications.
Speak about what to do when our clients think of themselves as stuck in old un-useful loops. When they, themself believe/know they are stuck (smoking, overeating, fear, pain, procrastinating). They know they are experiencing the outcome of the old unwanted loop and yet they feel they can only change with outside help. So they come to a hypnotist.
Always a pleasure to learn from you James. George
admin
June 14, 2012Hi George
I’m happy to get into some of that stuff… I may put it on a side blog though. I’ll think through how and where best to do it!
All the very best
James
MP
June 14, 2012a video on breaking a procrastination loop, perhaps?
admin
June 14, 2012OK MP. That seems like a good place to start!
J
Gareth
June 14, 2012Nah, do it later.
Peter Wright
June 14, 2012I totally echo Robert here, James.
It’s the total simplicity that really resonates with me, and how it almost flips the ‘changework’ frame into a totally new place. Very exciting and thought provoking! Can’t wait to stumble across some areas of application!
Big thanks, as always,
Peter
admin
June 14, 2012Thank you Peter!
J
Pauline Watkin
June 14, 2012Hi James, love the concept. Would love to hear what techniques you can recommend to empower people to get out of the loop/create a new loop – despite ingrained resistance! All agog!
admin
June 14, 2012Hi Pauline
My take, regarding resistance, is that it is a kind of loop in itself. I usually deconstruct this using ‘provocative’ methods (playing devil’s advocate and the like) and setting up binds.
All the very best
James
Laura
June 14, 2012Thank you for sharing those thoughts. What you’ve said makes perfect sense. If you have more thoughts about how to convince your client to accept and get stuck in a better “reality loop,” please share more!
admin
June 14, 2012Hi Laura
The first thing, for me, is to bust them out of the old loop. My preference is then to let a new, more functional loop emerge (rather that to artificially construct one).
Exploration processes can help this along.
All the very best
James
jake noodlegang
June 14, 2012yes yes keep on that thought. great creating and thank you
George Berry
June 14, 2012Keep it up James.
If want to be happy, don’t wait for something good to happen, just be happy. Good news or bad, their is nothing outside of you to change the way you feel inside, unless you let it.
admin
June 14, 2012Thanks George!
J
Richard
June 14, 2012Hi James ~
I’ve been thinking along these lines since the early 90’s. Stephen Wolinsky in his book “Trances People Live” has written in depth about this orientation of ‘de-hypnosis’ and that nearly all presenting problems that are brought to a psychotherapist are various hypnotic phenomena that he categorizes as different types of ‘trance’ ~ age regression, amnesia, positive or negative hallucination, identity trances, etc. Here’s a statement from the Amazon blurb ~ “At last, the missing piece of the dysfunctional puzzle. It is not enough to understand or even relive our childhood traumas. Dr. Wolinsky shows us how we continue to recreate those traumas in our adult lives and how to stop creating them. Every uncomfortable emotional state, and many psychosomatic symptoms, are also states of trance. Trance is the “glue” that holds the problem in the present moment. Learning to identify the kind of trance state beneath a problem or symptom gives us the tool that finally dissolves the glue.” Obviously this is not the same as what you are saying James but it is a significant step in the right direction.
Your dethroning of trance and your work of making explicit the hypnotic loops model has had a very powerful and clarifying effect on my interactions with clients. I remain grateful and exceptionally pleased by having come into contact with you and the excellent, necessary, and revolutionary insights you have brought to the world.
admin
June 16, 2012Thank you Richard!
Wolinsky’s book is great! I have always said, if there is a useful definition of ‘trance’, Wolinsky’s conceptualisation comes closest for me.
All the very best
James
Adis
June 14, 2012Ok Im probably not the only one thats saying this but yes really yes, because knowing how to control ones own brain helps you influence others via hypnosis more effectivly, my opinion, congruence and stuff
John
June 15, 2012James,
I don’t think that what you are saying here is all that removed from HWT.
After all Hypnosis is about getting the persons conscious mind out of the way to address the subconscious where these scripts run. By all means continue to talk about this, it is after all these scripts are what is driving phobias, self esteem, performance and addictive behavior that we see so much of in this work.
Much of what I see you do James appears to me to be an amalgamation of NLP and hypnosis (without trance). You are certainly on a good track here. Keep it up.
admin
June 16, 2012Thanks John
For me it is not far removed, but the HWT blog has mostly stayed within the confines of classic hypnotic phenomena ‘without trance’, so I wanted to test the water and see if people would be interested in moving beyond that here.
And it’s looking like many people are!
All the very best
James
edwin
June 15, 2012Dear James,
thanks for your comments, so to get this going a ball is in your hands. I would expect something like proposed, how do I (sort of self-hypnosis) de-hypnotise myself of procrastination or other way around motiviatation (the opposite of procrastination)…
Thanks
Edwin
admin
June 16, 2012Self ‘de-hypnosis’! That’s a fine thing Edwin!
Procrastination is a good sign that you are not ‘aligned’ with what it is you are trying to do. People get themselves caught up with all sorts of ‘duties’ in life, and lose track of what it is they really love and how thy can create that.
When we are creating what we love, without fear and ‘ego driven’ B.S., motivation comes naturally.
So the process of ‘de-hypnosis’, in this instance is one of disembedding from our unconscious ‘rules’ and seeing them for what they are (fear creating beliefs rather than truths), and connecting (or re-connecting) with our true desire’s a creativity.
Now that is easily said, but it is a complete paradigm shift for most people – to get from ‘here’ to ‘there’ is a journey that is a bit different for everyone. There are understandings and processes that help that journey, and that is what I am going to be sharing more of in the future.
All the very best
James
edwin
June 17, 2012James,
Thanks for your comment
I absolutely agree with the definition.
And I second the fact das the process of de-hypnosis is a very long journey..
And I am eagerly waiting for new stuff ….:-)
Thanks
Edwin
Steve
June 15, 2012Hi James,
It seems to me that involving the term hypnosis in any of these valuable insights is counter productive. The word hypnosis immediately adds an unwanted spin with associations of mind control and hocus pocus which detracts from the underlying common-sense practicality of people’s understanding of these useful techniques. A new title to replace hypnosis seems to be a good starting point to bring the science up to date.
Steve
admin
June 16, 2012Hi Steve
That’s a great insight, and aside from context (i.e. this being a Hypnosis blog) I largely agree with you. It is most likely that I will be sharing most of this stuff on a separate blog, but still retaining the concept of the hypnotic loop, which is really just a simple map for how we create and maintain realities. In this context, I think ‘hypnotic’ is an apt enough metaphor!
All the very best
James
inam
June 15, 2012thanx james
on the cutting edge as ever
pls go ahead and break down some more myths about hypnosis and get real
refreshing and really useful and desperately needed by all of us
well done
let us know more
and free us all
to be what we can be more fully
great stuff
thank you
inam
admin
June 16, 2012“free us all to be what we can be more fully”
I love that thought Inam, although I could never do that. Ultimately, I believe, people can only ever free themselves… though I am excited to be able to ‘show people the door’ if I can.
All the very best
James
Simon
June 15, 2012James -what a shrewd and pertinent stance.Years ago I used Transactional Analysis as a change work tool and one of the core precepts was that people unknowingly create and follow “life scripts” as though they are doomed to act out repetitive patterns of interaction and behaviour.This is a fresh and exciting de- hypnotising aspect -I hope it broadens.Thank you so much.
admin
June 16, 2012Thank you Simon!
If you are a hypnotist with an interest in ‘de-hypnotising’, I have to recommend Stephen Wolinsky’s book Trances People Live.
I first read it about 5 years ago, but over time it has come to make more and more sense!
There are a lot of other fine sources out there (some dating back over 2000 years, like the Tao Te Ching), mostly outside the field of hypnosis, but they are all pointing to the same thing!
All the very best
James
Helen
June 15, 2012Really interesting, more please.
You made a brief mention/hint of this once before and it has stayed with me.
Would love to explore it more.
Thanks
admin
June 16, 2012Thanks Helen
There will be more to come!
All the very best
James
ian
June 15, 2012hi james im health co~ordinator owner of a bootcamp co in korea. im looking and studying on mindset training…to take our members on a mind body path..rather than just physical training interventions. im getting a lot of media attention with it. was wondering if you have existing materials on sports mindset? I appreciate your work and yes u really should take the above video contents to tbe next level. people are opening up much more towards knowing their minds…many thanks….ian
admin
June 16, 2012Hi Ian
Sports performance is not really my specialism, so I am going to recommend that you contact my good friend Alan Whitton:
http://www.fightersmind.co.uk/
Al knows what he is talking about in this area!
All the very best
James
Julio
June 15, 2012Hey James,
More self-application for personal changework please. I’d like to know more about how to identify and change negative hypnotic loops to positive ones, and how to enrich already positive loops in oneself. Keep up the great work!
admin
June 16, 2012Thanks Julio
I’ll get there with it!
All the very best
James
Travis
June 15, 2012Hi James, great video! I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. Creating out of fear or creating out of a sense of possiblilty and desire. Thanks, once again, for helping me add more clarity to what’s been going on inside my own brain. -Travis
admin
June 16, 2012You are most welcome, Travis!
J
Linda Hardy
June 15, 2012Hi James.,…this is of great interest to me…just to clarify…the negative hypnotic loop is a belief created by its owners ego to fit into his or her way of viewing the world and this verifyies who he/she is as a person and this keeps him/her locked in a negative behaviour pattern.
Hope I have explained that ok. ps I am your mothers gardener.
admin
June 16, 2012Hi Linda
That’s pretty much it! Spot on!
Be good to have a chat some time 🙂
All the very best
James
Linda Hardy
June 17, 2012This blog has me hooked in the “loop” so to speak. There are so many fascinating comments and insights and I find myself excited about the future now that this has found me and I have found it.
My background is in “guidance”…enabling clients to make life changes and supporting them throughtout the process under the banner education and employment. But of course it is never just about that!
Bring it on James…and yes…I would love to have a chat at some point. This is probably not the place to say this but you have great parents who I am extremely fond of.
admin
June 18, 2012😀 😀
J
magicleo
June 16, 2012Hi James,
Words are not enough to appreciate your effort to people who love hypnosis and the change workshops. I like the openness of you to share everything you know to those who thrive for such knowledge and want to do something. well the loop is so simple and so powerful if we practice to do the same in our daily life we can achieve anything. Belief: if we can understand what others believe about a certain thing we can take them to the next level which is Imagination: to imagine what we want them to do or think of and once we test their imagination have reached our path or not if they have we can lead them for the physiology which may be something in their body or even some achievement. then automatically they will experience what you were conveying to them. well we already do this without knowing many times when we strongly believe what we think is true. and by understanding your principles makes things easy. very true hwt can be used much beyond the sticky hand, sticky card and such effect. if we can understand the loops especially we can lead a great successful life. whether it is to have a happy family or a successful business. Once again Thank you James
admin
June 18, 2012“well we already do this without knowing many times when we strongly believe what we think is true”
Spot on!
Thank you Leo!
J
Murray Lufkin
June 16, 2012What a profound insight; very much to the point, and elegantly presented. At age 78 I am forever susrprised at how much I have yet to learn!
admin
June 18, 201278? I’m surprised too Murray 😉
That you are open to learn is a most noble thing IMO.
All the very best
James
David Tuneström
June 17, 2012This gave me so much to think about. I think that the fear of how we are perceived in the roles we are expected to have or wish to have, leads us to create loops of thoughts and feelings that give us a self-image that we ARE in a certain way or that we ARE that role/person. This limits us to break patterns and behaviour because we think it is who we ARE. The same thing goes whit how we think about others, how they behave and who they ARE.
admin
June 18, 2012Totally, David.
It’s the whole thing of confusing people and the world for the stories we tell ourselves about people and the world. And fearing the stories people (including ourselves) tell of us may, or may not, be true.
When people step out of their BS and into their vision and creativity, it is amazing the wonders they can create.
All the very best
James
Robert Schryvers
June 19, 2012Spot on James
We are so busy “self-ing” that may find it challenging to notice the recursive mirror world of reality tunnel validation and construction.
A model that always seems to come to mind is a Ring Modulator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_modulation
I used to mess with analog synthesizers back in the 80’s and I found it remarkable how those thing “resonated” with my feeling of how out mind works.
Its like our Loops are a frequency modulation of some kind, or like a feedback loop on an electric guitar, the neural signal builds upon itself. that neural signal can be a frame or schema.
admin
June 19, 2012Thanks Robert.
Feedback loops are key – our neural networks are based in them. John McCrone’s Going Inside is an excellent book describing feedback functions in te brain.
All the very best
James
Simon
June 18, 2012Thanks James, that was fascinating and very useful
Don French
June 18, 2012Hi James
Just watched the vid. Very interesting.
I for one would like to hear more about this type of change work, maybe even a dvd or two?
Marek
June 19, 2012Hi James
While watching your video just reminded myself of piece of movie Inception, where main character (Cobb) was explaining nature of sleep. He said “We create and perceive our world simultaneously, and our mind does this so well that we don’t even know it’s happening.”
To me, this description is no different from what we do in our “waking life”.
The loops you described are like a dream within a dream.
Eastern philosophy describes it in similar way. They often refer to enlightenment as “awakening” from a dream.
I think we can not awake from the dream. Meaning we can not stop the process of thinking, although we can stop the “bad” loops and start the “good” ones.
I thought about it long time, but I had no tools to explore this topic.
It would be good to have some practical applications of “how to” do that
Marek
Colin
June 22, 2012Yes, more on this please.
deborah
July 16, 2012More of this please-exciting material!
TOMAS
July 27, 2012Great! I love where you’re going with this and am eager to learn more about it. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and ideas.
admin
July 28, 2012You are most welcome Tomas. And thank you for commenting!
JT
Reinoldo Fábio
July 28, 2012Hi, Thanks a lot for the the video. I find the subject really interesting and
profound. I would love to hear more about it. Thanks again.
Greetings from Rio de janeiro.
Fabio.
admin
July 28, 2012Hi Fabio
Thank you! And I will share more about it!
Greetings from London!
All the very best
James
kv
July 28, 2012DeHypnosis is an important topic. What kinds of techniques are you talking about?
Classically they would include such things as mindfulness meditation as well as hypnotic suggestion and regression to cause. Are these the kinds of techniques that you would be exploring?
admin
July 28, 2012Hi KV
I’m a big fan of mindfulness and do a lot of facilitated mindfulness with clients. My approach with clients is based in Eugine Gendlin’s Focusing, Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling and use of the attention directing qualities hypnotic language. I also combine ‘mindfulness’ with ‘re-framing’, so as the client actually ‘tries on’ different realities and looks at the world through them.
Mindfulness, focusing playing frames and trying on realities are all things that I use for myself also.
I don’t really use regression much, unless a significant emotional event spontaneously pops up, in which case I’ll work with it psychoactively (though I don’t think of this in terms of ‘regresion’)
All the very best
James
gary plumridge
July 28, 2012yes yes yes Just had 50 light bulbs go off at once, bang on the money with this one james. De Hypnotise amazing concept, cant wait to get out there and put it to work
Pablo
July 28, 2012Yes, more about this !!! please 🙂
Mark
July 28, 2012James, brilliant vid as ever, clear, concise to the point
Best Wishes
Mark
Ken Stofft
July 29, 2012What a superb presentation, James. It is our ‘belief patterns” or “loops” that either free us or keep us “stuck”, as you say. Excellent point. There are ‘invisible’ or ‘unconscious’ patterns that have been fed to us by parents, authority figures, culture that are not “us”, are simply someone else’s stuff and keep us trapped. So, identifying what these patterns/loops are is imperative for living a vibrant, congruent life. Yes, speak to this again, James!
admin
July 29, 2012I certainly will Ken – thanks!
JT
DarÃo
July 29, 2012Thanks for sharing. It’s very usefull to think about this as a way for create change in persons. Create realistic “scripts” an goals and set more usefull state of mind for it.
Your work can be a great tool for apply in the what, how and why we are doing things. I hope we can know more about it!
admin
July 29, 2012Thanks Dario!
J
Brian Mahoney
July 31, 2012Good post, James – reminds me of Wollinsky’s ‘Trances People Live.’ Curious to hear how you go about giving people the choice to get out of those loops on a consistent basis.
admin
August 1, 2012Wolinsky’s book is a great book. I’ve always said, his use of the term ‘trance’ is the one that seems most functional to me.
Will be getting to the more practical stuff with this soon!
All the very best
James
lynn
July 31, 2012Agree absolutely, ad would love to hear more, please. What does this mean for self-(de)hypnosis?
admin
August 1, 2012Hi Lynn
I promise that I will be getting to that very soon!
Al the very best
James
Mike Dee
October 30, 2012And there was I thinking I was going to write about a new paradigm on hypnosis, and you beat me to it. Brilliant,
My own line was on belief loops, but this is essentially what you have done.
admin
November 5, 2012😀 Thanks Mike. I’m sure your paradigm will be different enough that it will bring something fresh and cool!
All the very best
James
Abhishek
December 27, 2012nice video…can you talk about self hypnosis in this context..meaning how do you enter in the loop and importance of feed back loops in self hypnosis….can I get number amnesia via entering such a loop?? Plz help…
admin
December 27, 2012For getting hypnotic phenomena on yourself, I recommend looking for the Haunted Key video.
All the by best
James
Abhishek
December 27, 2012and can you plz talk about post hypnotic suggestion in context of self hypnosis…
admin
December 27, 2012Hi Abhishek
On the whole, I tend not to think of post hypnotic suggestion in this context. I am currently working on a whole bunch of material on self-hypnosis, so keep your eyes open for that!
All the very best
James
Phan
August 10, 2013Thanks for the explanation, but I wanted to ask you something. How do we self hypnosis? Do we just control our beliefs and imaginations by ourselves? Are we just using our own imagination to control our life loops? 😀 And btw, You have helped me out alot in hypnosis things.
admin
August 19, 2013That is good to hear Phan! 🙂
There is a lot to say about self-hypnosis… but one thing I’ll say in response to your questions is that we never control anything… we only influence. People, minds, life etc. are dynamic ‘unfolding’ chaos systems, patterns emerge from the flow (including our ‘selves’ and our ‘consciousness’) and when we are smart we get to participate in that unfolding in useful ways. We get to influence the course of the unfolding somewhat… but we never get to control it.
Control is an illusion, and if you fall for it, it is also a trap that will rob you of your true power to influence.
So, in the case of self hypnosis, what we are looking to is self influence. Influencing the dynamic cascade of events that constitutes our ongoing being.
All the very best
James
inam
August 19, 2013yes pls
show us more James
thanx
do you still have a practice your self to help individuals or just training?
i am not sure if i have enough time or aptitude to work on me by my self
joseph scorselo
May 13, 2014Why don’t you initiate a “LooP Blog” for those of us who lean towards the concept that therapy or change work, or whatever one calls it is most significanly about growth, learning ,understanding the brain’s cognitive function, and creating a more expansive philisophcal perspective on life. (verbose,sorry) Quick change eleviates distress, footsicking is fun, but personal growth is more comprehensive. Many members of this site could and would contribute to discourse in this area.
James Tripp
May 15, 2014Hi Joseph
I am indeed starting such a blog… it is just being set up right now on http://realityshaper.com/
At the moment it is very rough and ready (no aesthetic design etc.) but it will be being ‘shaped’ over the next few weeks (a little every day) and I will be launching it officially soon!
Best,
James
P.S. I love the term ‘Loop Blog… I may use it! 🙂
Ivar Vogelezang
February 3, 2015Hi James, very interesting how you put our attention on the importancy of first DE-Hypnosis by persons. Is what you mean the same as what I see very often by people ….. creating there own world or hypnotizing themself as a way of selfprotecting? I mean:
Mostly people who don’t realy know how to live, what to do very shy, not knowing how to behave ….. By constantly telling to themself (and to others) how bad the world around them is … they keep alive there sight of the world, there base of life …. By doing this, always the things that go wrong are somebody elses fault, they never have to blame themself.
I would not like to live that way but for these persons it also is a security of keeping alive what they have … and blurring down the things they don’t want to think of!
What is your meaning about this James?
All the very best …. Ivar
[…] the previous video I put up – The Loops that Run Your Life – Â I discussed a little about how we organise out realities and what drives the […]
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