Self Hypnosis for Insomnia
By Chris | February 26, 2010
Can you use self hypnosis for insomnia? Yesterday I got an email from someone on our email list asking for a solution. She has been studying a foreign language, and the excitement of it all has her lying awake for hours at a time when she should be sleeping. She can’t seem to “switch off” at night, and it has her feeling pretty awful. As with many people, she wondered if Dr. Mike Mandel does any private sessions. Again, as always, the answer is “no, he doesn’t”.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t offer help!
When I first got a copy of Mike’s “Stress Relief” CD, I thought that the coolest part of it all was the lesson on self hypnosis. Mike teaches you his own particular method for entering trance, and accomplishing a therapeutic purpose - whatever it might be.
With a method to enter trance and create unconscious change, you don’t need to worry about having your iPod with you so you can listen to a recording. You don’t need any tools aside from your own brain.
I used to lie awake at night as well. I had so many ideas spinning around in my head that I found it hard to switch off - just like the woman who sent in the email. In my experience talking to people, this is a very common problem - especially for people who are really motivated and excited about life.
After learning how to do self hypnosis using Mike’s method, I found it has become very easy to switch off. I use his protocol, but with a slight change. If you have his CD you’ll understand in a second. If you don’t have it - get it here!
Creating a nice trance with Mike’s method takes no more than a minute. You are cycling through external visual, audiory and kinethetic experiences 3 times in a row with your eyes open. Then you close your eyes and continue cycling through, but this time with a focus on internal experiences.
For the purpose of going to sleep, I simply replace the eyes closed part with something very simple: I close my eyes and let my unconscious mind bring stuff to my awareness and simply enjoy whatever it is. What happens is that my unconscious will deliver really cool images, sounds, or feelings to me. I’ll just watch / listen / feel and enjoy. I have no expectations, no stress, and no fear.
This leads very naturally to a profound state of sleep.
When you learn to use self hypnosis you’ll quickly realize that that “off” switch can be pushed anytime you need to sleep. You’ll have a process that works much better than lying in bed, cycling (consciously) through all of the crazy thoughts that have been preventing you from sleeping.
Going to sleep is a skill. Insomnia is not a disease. It’s simply the outcome of a bad sleep strategy.
All the best,
Chris
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An Old Photo from Mike’s Archives
By Chris | February 2, 2010
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
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Creating The Esdaile State
By Chris | November 23, 2009
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.
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.
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Ericksonian Hypnosis Training Notes
By Chris | November 16, 2009
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.
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Mike Mandel’s Latest Product Coming Soon
By Chris | May 28, 2009
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!
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Self Hypnosis for Brain Surgery: A Great Article!
By Chris | May 14, 2009
I just came across this amazing website posting today that I thought would be interesting for our readers. The story is about a 29 year-old woman who had to go through brain surgery. She was freaked out by the idea of being unconscious for 6 hours of surgery, and worried about the smallish (2%) risks of serious complications. She used a self hypnosis tape to give herself positive suggestions about relaxation, blood flowing away from the area of the surgery, etc. She was discharged 2 days after the surgery with no complications and she had no bleeding at all during the brain surgery.
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Self Hypnosis for Weight Loss
By Chris | May 1, 2009
“Self hypnosis for weight loss” is the most popular use of self hypnosis that people search for in Google. I’m sure this has a lot to do with the high percentage of the population that is overweight. But thankfully it also has to do with the massive number of people who really do want to change. Guess what? Self hypnosis for weight loss is something that is absolutely worth doing.
Let’s first discuss weight loss, and then discuss how hypnosis or self hypnosis can help you achieve the goal of dropping a few pounds.
Weight loss basics: Your weight is something that changes based on the energy balance in your body. Energy comes in through calories, and energy gets expended through exercise and general body functions (i.e. your metabolism). In some ways it is very simple. Eat less calories than you expend and you will lose weight. That is a mathematical and scientific fact. But in some ways it is not so simple because a person’s metabolism may change. If you start eating less but your body goes into conservation mode, you may not affect your energy balance enough to make a difference to your body weight.
You can control energy input by changing what you eat, when you eat, and how you combine your foods.
You can control your energy output by changing how you exercise, and by changing your “internal controls” to maintain an optimal metabolic rate. For example, it is widely acknowledged that different levels of emotinal stress can change your body’s metabolic rate (that is, how many calories your body burns in a normal resting state).
Self hypnosis for weight loss - can it really help? In my opinion, absolutely it can. Please understand that, on its own, hypnosis is not a magic pill. You can’t just “do hypnosis” and become thinner tomorrow. That said, here is how you can affect your body using hypnosis:
- You can use self hypnosis to increase your desire for healthy foods that you previously did not enjoy. You can use hypnosis to find fruits and vegetables more tasty, refreshing, and compelling.
- You can use self hypnosis to radically shift your belief system so that you unconsciously accept that you are in control of your own body weight. You are not a victim of the body you are currently in. You can change it.
- Self hypnosis can help you create new positive behaviors such as a mental desire to exercise at a level that is right for you.
- Self hypnosis can be used very effectively to reduce stress and trigger positive emotional states. This will allow your body to function at a higher level of performance. When you feel better, it’s a lot easier to eat right and exercise regularly.
Dr. Mike Mandel is a six-time award winning hypnotist with over 30 years of professional hypnosis experience. His “brain software” series of self hypnosis CDs can help you to make the changes that you need to make.
Please check out Mike’s bio, and listen to the audio samples on our home page. This will help you decide if his CDs are right for you. I use them regularly, as do so many of our customers. I hope you’ll become our next customer. Click here to order.
We offer you Dr. Mandel’s products in MP3 format or physical CD (and they are backed up by a money back guarantee).
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Overcome Trauma with Hypnosis and NLP
By Chris | March 12, 2009
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.
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Upcoming Courses in Hypnosis
By Chris | March 9, 2009
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.
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MikeMandelHypnosis.com has a New Look
By Chris | March 9, 2009
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!
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