Mike Mandel Hypnosis

So you’re interested in learning hypnosis?

If you use the Stress Relief audio CD by Mike Mandel, you will learn a very simple and powerful method to put yourself into trance. While this certainly qualifies as learning hypnosis, we realize many of you may have a deeper interest in learning much more. Some of you may have a real desire to learn how to hypnotize others in order to help them accomplish change. Hypnotherapy can be extremely effective for a lot of people, and it isn’t actually that difficult to learn. Whether you buy the Mike Mandel audio CD programs or not, the owners of this website are interested in showing you how you can learn more, including (for those in Toronto, Canada) how you can study hypnosis directly with Mike Mandel.

Before we show you some of the best ways to learn hypnosis, let’s discuss the two main styles of hypnosis.

The Direct Method of Hypnosis is the most common, but when used on its own this is the least effective method of hypnosis. Direct method is very command-centric, whereby a hypnotist acts like some sort of magician. He might swing a pendulum in front of you and simply tell you that you are starting to feel sleepy, etc. This method usually falls flat on its face if the subject offers any resistance. But otherwise, it can work very well when a subject co-operates. Most hypnosis schools teach only this method of hypnosis, and you would walk away from such a course with a book of scripts to read to your subjects, but very little actual knowledge about hypnosis.

The Indirect Method of Hypnosis is less common and far more effective. This method is also known as Ericksonian Hypnosis because it was largely invented and popularized due to the genius work of the late Dr. Milton Erickson. Erickson’s method of hypnosis is very conversational in nature, and does not involve “commands”. It is a process designed to fit the needs of the specific subject that you are working with, and a skilled practitioner of Ericksonian hypnosis is able to accomplish things that would confuse a traditional hypnotist who was educated purely in direct method hypnosis.

Bottom line: If you are serious about learning hypnosis, you should absolutely begin by learning Ericksonian Hypnosis. Once you learn Ericksonian language patterns and methods, you would then benefit by supplementing your toolbox with some direct method techniques.

So how do you go about learning this? As with most things in life, you get what you pay for, and you get back what you invest with regards to your own time and training. That said, here are a few options, all of which we have used.

Study Directly with Mike Mandel. He teaches a course in Ericksonian Hypnosis at NLP Canada Training in Toronto, but this course is only taught about two times per year and often fills up quickly so we suggest you go visit http://www.nlpcanada.com and check out their calendar of events to find Mandel’s next available course. The course runs over two concurrent weekends, and as of 2008 the price is $1,790. To be very clear - this course is not cheap but the content and the learning is awesome, and the class sizes are very small. The folks who run NLP Canada Training (Chris Keeler and Linda Ferguson) are more than willing to answer your questions and arrange a payment plan. We have no affiliation with them (except having taken courses) and we are referring readers to NLP Canada simply because we believe that studying directly with Mike Mandel offers you a unique and powerful way to learn hypnosis from one of the world’s best. They also have other (shorter, less expensive) introductory courses to hypnosis and NLP.

Audio Courses. You can learn Ericksonian Hypnosis through audio lessons, which is convenient because you can do this on your own time and at your own pace. You can load the audio lessons onto your iPod and take them with you. If you buy a program from a reputable instructor and hypnotist, you’ll be able to learn a lot. You just won’t be able to ask questions, have practice subjects to work with and get immediate feedback on your learning (as you would get in a real class). If you are going to buy a hypnosis program online, please make sure it comes with a money-back guarantee and please make sure you will learn Ericksonian techniques. Avoid anything that hypes up hypnosis as some sort of mysterious black magic. Last but not least, make sure you at least Google the course author’s name to make sure he has some credibility.

If you are going to consider an audio program, you should put some thought towards Igor Ledochowski’s “Conversational Hypnosis” course. This course does not cover therapeutic applications of hypnosis, but it is an extremely solid audio course in fundamental Ericksonian language patterns, along with many of the other skills you need to become a skilled hypnotist. The online price is $197 (downloaded in MP3 format), which I still would not consider “cheap”, but I have used this course myself and know that the material is good. The selling process is also on your side, because you have a full unconditional 30-day money back guarantee and all orders (and returns) are processed by ClickBank. Refund requests seem to be fulfilled automatically, meaning they really will give you your money back (and some unethical people use this to get the product for free - please be ethical).

Books. Yes, it might sound boring but it’s a low-cost method. Many of the best books are still available on Amazon.com. Now, learning hypnosis through books is not ideal because you will not get any hands-on feel for the auditory aspects to hypnosis. That said, books can be great for helping you to actually understand the hypnotic process. But once you get past the understanding you’ll want to do some actual skill-set development and you can only get this by DOING hypnosis with other people. So no matter which method you choose to learn, make sure you practice on real people to improve your skill.

The following is a compilation of the books I think you should as you begin to build your “Hypnosis Library”.