Mike emailed me this photo last week and I have been meaning to get it up on the blog.  In the middle is John Grinder, co-founder of NLP and inventor of New Code NLP.  On the right … that’s Mike.  On the left is a great friend to many of the people who have studied at NLP Canada over the years … the late (and great) Derek Balmer.

I hope to see many of you out at the next Ericksonian Hypnosis class in the spring of 2010.

Chris

This past weekend I completed my Master Practitioner certification in Ericksonian Hypnosis with Dr. Mike Mandel.  It was a great experience to be back in Mike’s class, learning amazing new skills and meeting a bunch of really cool people.

Yesterday, on the last day of the 2nd weekend, we were taught how to get subjects into the Esdaile state.  This is a state of hypnosis so deep, there is thought to be no deeper level.  Mike taught us that this state was originally discovered by James Esdaile, who used hypnosis to perform surgery in India, back when no anaesthetics were available, and there were no methods to render surgical patients unconscious.  But it was Dave Elman who re-discovered the state, and named it after James Esdaile.

Working together, one student worked with another to induce trance.  We first took our training partner into a somnambulistic trance using the Elman induction.  From there, it takes only a few minutes to go to the “basement” of hypnosis, aka, the Esdaile state.

Personally, I found this experience to be incredibly powerful, as did my training partner.  She went into the Esdaile state perfectly, and the first test I used was a very hard pinch of the skin on the back of her hand.  She didn’t budge, nor did she recall feeling anything when she later emerged from trance.

Often people say to me, “Isn’t hypnosis fake?”  When you experience no pain from a *very* hard pinch on your skin, and the painlessness has never been suggested to you in advance, you are quickly convinced how powerful hypnosis really is.

In short, I had an amazing time developing my hypnosis skills over the last two weekends.  I encourage everyone to learn this amazing tool. Feel free to check out our page on how to learn hypnosis.

Students – if you are interested in sending in your own thoughts and impressions from the class, please do.  I’ll happily post them on this blog.

A huge thanks to Dr. Mike Mandel for providing everyone with an incredible two weekends of hypnosis training.

Remember to have a look at Dr. Mandel’s self hypnosis CDs.

It’s Monday morning as I type this, and I’ve just come back from the first weekend of a two-weekend training course in Ericksonian Hypnosis with Dr. Mike Mandel.

I first did my Practitioner certification a few years ago with Mike, and I finally cleared my schedule to take my Master Practitioner training.  It’s amazing to notice how much subtle skill I pick up every time I attend a class.

This particular class is absolutely amazing.  We have a bigger group than normal, and we have a TON of great resource people in the class.  Mike often brings past students back into the class in order to make sure that every new student has a chance to get coaching from other hypnotists during each exercise.

If you’ve never been “hypnotized” before, the first day of the class is a major eye-opener.  I used the word “hypnotized” in quotes because the real truth is that everyone has been hypnotized thousands of times (at least) during their life.  It happens nearly every time you watch TV, or drop into a “driving trance” on your daily commute to work, while reading a great book, etc.  But during this class you actually get to experience going into trance on purpose, through the guidance of a fellow student.

I sincerely hope that if you have an interest in learning hypnosis, you consider taking one of Mike’s classes.  It’s fun, addictive and you will walk away with a tremendous new skill set that can be used in so many aspects of your life.

Who takes these classes?  Here’s some examples from this group.  We have a real estate agent, a retail sales professional, a couple of great psychotherapists, a musician/actor, a finance professional and a corporate coach.  What a diverse group.

I’m really looking forward to next weekend.

Hi everyone,

Last night Mike Mandel officially finished recording an amazing new self-help program.  This is not a hypnosis program, but he does use hypnosis to install the “brain software”.  Essentially this product is a set of commands that you install within your unconscious mind so that your unconscious can serve you better.  I’m going to ask Mike to write a blog post to explain what he’s come up with since he can do a much better job than I can.

Anyway, the recording is finished, and it now has to go through the final steps (editing, adding background sounds, etc).

When the program is finished it will be released to our mailing list first, before it becomes generally available.  So if you want to have a first crack (probably at a discount also) then you need to join our list.  Look for the sign-up form on this page!

Today I read a story in the Toronto Star about a Toronto woman who was awarded $4,000 because the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board decided that the police used unnecessary force against her in an incident on a public bus two years ago.

The woman, Nino Gulleid, became the victim of a lie.  She had argued with another woman at the bus stop, and when the women boarded the other woman told the bus driver that Nino Gulleid had a gun.  It was not true, but the driver called the police as per protocol.  The police ended up dragging her off the bus and humiliating her in public (according to the story in the Toronto Star).

I’m not going to judge the events of the situation because it’s not my place to do so.  But, Nino Gulleid says that the memory of this event disturbs her even two years later.  Of course it disturbs her.  This would be a traumatic experience for anyone to live through.

What she may not know is that hypnosis and NLP can help her to eliminate the harm from this traumatic memory.  We could show her how to change the way that the memory affects her.  Dr. Mike Mandel’s Peak Performance CD covers the NLP techniques that are required to deal with this.  His Stress Relief CD also teaches you how to do self-hypnosis, which you could use to overcome such trauma.

There are people all over the world who are dealing with varying levels of emotional trauma.  It could be from a relationship failing, an abusive situation, a dog bite, a bad experience with a boss or colleague, or anything else.  NLP and hypnosis are powerful tools to get you to change the way you react to these past memories.  After all, it is not the memory itself that hurts you – it is the emotional triggers that the memory fires off in your mind. If you change the emotional reaction you permanently change (or completely eliminate) the hurtfullness of the memory.

Nino – if you ever read this please get in touch with me (this is Chris).  I’ll show you exactly what to do so that you can end the negative emotions tied to this memory.  You’ll still have the memory, but it won’t bother you anymore.

Read the full Toronto Star story here.

There are a few events coming up in the next month that you might want to know about if you have any interest in learning hypnosis.  All of these events take place in Toronto and are run by NLP Canada.  See the NLP Canada website for full details.

First Steps in Hypnosis (Wed March 25/09):  This is a 2-hour evening course to introduce you to hypnosis.  It’s suitable for people who are curious what hypnosis really is, what trance feels like, etc.  Chris Keeler and Linda Ferguson are donating your $25 fee for this course to Trails Youth Initiatives.  I took my NLP Practitioner training with Chris Keeler.  he is a fantastic trainer and it would be worth your time.  Note that this course is not taught by Dr. Mike Mandel.

Introduction to NLP and Ericksonian Hypnosis (Sat April 4/09):   This is a one-day course and will give you more learning opportunities than the above 2-hour session.  It will teach basic concepts in NLP and hypnosis.  It’s a bit more money ($145), and I still think it is worth the price.   This is also not taught by Dr. Mike Mandel.

Ericksonian Hypnosis Training with Dr. Mike Mandel (April 18-19 and 24-26):  This is a full two-weekend practitioner training in Ericksonian Hypnosis with Mike.  I took this and value the investment I made in this education.  Mike only does these courses about twice per year.  It is more expensive at $1790.  This course is simply fantastic!  Often his students are hypnotherapists who are coming to him to refine their skill set.

In Mike’s own words:

I am often asked “What makes this hypnosis course different?”

My answer is that the Ericksonian Hypnosis Course as presented by NLP Canada is truly world class. I bring more than three decades of full-time experience to the training which is geared toward the individual student’s needs. Whether an attendee is a psychologist or a medical doctor with a thriving hypnosis practice, or a complete beginner who wants to learn hypnosis for personal growth or perhaps in sales, this course conveys the necessary skills in just two weekends. Students and even instructors who are already certified through other fine organizations come to NLP Canada Training Inc. to learn from us, because we are the best at teaching flexibility and effortless hypnosis.

Our students learn to combine the best direct hypnotic methods with the Ericksonian paradigm and flow with the situation, rather than reading printed scripts at each other. Many of the inductions and interventions taught in the class were created by me personally, and are now used by hypnotists worldwide. The result is a very effective box of tools that give immediate and effortless access to the unconscious. That’s why many students come back and take the Master Hypnotist course. Each class has Master Hypnotists in attendance as resource people. They donate their time to help students learn these incredible skills in record time. We really have a blast, because if it’s not fun, what’s the point of doing it?

I honestly believe we offer the best hypnosis training anywhere on the planet!

If you are interested in learning more about hypnosis, check out NLP Canada’s website.

We’re proud to unveil the long-awaited “new look” for this website.  I hope you all find it easier on the eyes.  Our graphics guy did an incredible job on the header.  Thanks Ruben!

Hello everyone,

Just a quick post to let you know that we are now officially selling Dr. Mike Mandel’s self hypnosis CDs in MP3 format.  The benefits of MP3 are:

1) Immediate access (no waiting for your CD in the mail)

2) Lower price (you save because we save – no shipping fees, no manufacturing costs)

3) If you buy physical CDs you will still get to automatically download the MP3 so you can start using it right away (then the CD arrives in the mail later).

Order Dr. Mandel’s self hypnosis CDs here

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick post to let you all know that we’ll soon be offering MP3 downloads of Dr. Mike Mandel’s CD products.  The benefits of MP3 are:

• You’ll have INSTANT access to your purchase
• You’ll be able to put it on your iPod without having to rip the CD into iTunes
• The price will be a little bit cheaper
• No shipping charges

We’ll still offer physical CDs, so the MP3 offer will be an add-on.  For customers who want physical CDs we’ll still let you have immediate access to the download so you don’t have to wait to start enjoying them.

If you are interested in purchasing the MP3 version please email me (info@mikemandelhypnosis.com) and I’ll let you know the moment we activate the MP3 capabilities.  It won’t be long.

I just became aware of this awesome blog post about being hypnotized by Dr. Mike Mandel. The post is by Chris Lahay from Peterborough, Ontario.  He attended a stage hypnosis show in December 2008.  Mike did his human lie detector on Chris, and then Chris went up on stage for the hypnosis portion of the show.

His post is probably the best written account I’ve ever seen by someone who was hypnotized as part of a stage show.  Keep in mind that stage hypnosis is purely for comedy, and has very little in common with hypnotherapy (for therapy).

Mike did a variation of the human lie detector on me once.  He handed me a deck of cards and got me to pick the card, and memorize it.  He never touched the deck of cards other than handing it to me (and the deck was in the box).  To make a long story short, all Mike did was tell me a little story (60 seconds). The story included all of the words from one to ten, along with the words Jack, Queen,  King and Ace … he also managed to work in the words of all suits.  He observed me while he told his story.  Then he told me exactly what card I had selected.  It was incredible.  He had no way to influence my choice since I picked a card from a regular deck at random and he never touched the cards.

Regarding Mike’s hypnosis CDs, Chris Lahay has the following to say (see the end of his blog post):

“Check out his cds… I listened to his “Stress Relief & Self Hypnosis” cd this afternoon and it is amazing!”

Chris … thanks so much for your post.  I couldn’t agree more.  The CDs are outstanding. Once you’ve had a taste of hypnosis you’ll easily get hooked and want to learn more.