Hypnosis For Energy Healers

with Ed Grimshaw

There are a lot of popular misconceptions about hypnosis, hypnotists and the processes of hypnosis.

The fact is that trance is a naturally occurring phenomenon and that in hypnosis, this natural phenomenon is used to direct the trance and the experience a person is having towards positive and beneficial outcomes.

Because of the structure of EMO, clients will naturally enter into quite deep trance states as their attention goes “inside” to follow with the experiences of the energy flow in their bodies.

As the client goes into trance, the EMO practitioner naturally and automatically becomes “their hypnotist”.

Being A Hypnotist: Responsibilities & Opportunities

When a client enters into a trance, the responsibility for their well being shifts more and more towards the facilitator – the energy healer, or the hypnotist.

What is said and what internal experiences the client is having becomes more and more dependent on what the practitioner says and does as they go deeper and deeper into trance.

• So there is a certain degree of responsibility on behalf of the practitioner to say the right things, and not to even accidentally engage in a course of action that could frighten or damage the client, or get in the way of their healing process.

This is very easy once you can recognise the signs of trance in your client, and understand some very simple, basic rules of language at the core of the hypnotic process.

At the same time, the fact that the client becomes open to suggestion offers a tremendous opportunity for the healer to add an extra layer of excellence to the healing session.

If the right positive instructions are given in these moments of trance, and the client has positive and beneficial internal experiences, blockages to self healing can dissolve and the client's own innate healing power can be encouraged and brought forth to shine.

Recognising Trance

How do we know when the client goes into trance?

We pay SPECIAL ATTENTION to the client to notice CHANGES:

• Breathing – The breathing gets deeper, slower, more regular.
• Skin colour, skin tone – The skin becomes paler and more relaxed; deep wrinkles soften noticeably.
• Movements – Movements may be slower, become more automatic, erratic, gestures slow down, become softer.
• How they talk – Speech becoming distinctly slower, may be slurred, and quieter.
• What their energy feels like – There is a feeling of stepping down, slowing down, becoming calmer, a “trancy” light headed feeling.

We can encourage the client to go into a deeper trance by re-assuring them and praising them for achieving trance, for example by saying, “You are doing very well, that's very good,” when we notice a sign of trance beginning to happen.

The Language Of Trance

The more a client goes into trance, the less their ability becomes to deal with negatives.

A person with full waking awareness can understand what you mean when you say, “This is not going to hurt.”

In trance, a person will only understand “This is going to hurt,” because they have lost the ability to process negative language.

• What you say in trance causes a DIRECT experience to happen immediately.

The classic example is that when you say, “Don't think of a pink elephant with blue spots wearing a green tutu!” any person will HAVE TO think of exactly that in order to then make a kind of mental cross through that so they are NOT thinking of it.

A person in trance loses the ability to make that mental manoeuvre – this is called being unable to process the negative.

• We need to learn to phrase our instructions ONLY in the positive.

Examples Of Positive Trance Language

Here are some more examples. The instructions the client in trance actually hears and acts upon are in bold.

• Holding a positive intention for healing and positive goals TOWARDS which we move ourselves, the session and the client results NATURALLY in positive language expression.

Exercises After The Workshop

To learn more about trance and language, learn to pay attention to what people say, and how they say it.

• Notice how common the negative language forms are (“Don't FORGET to post the letter!” - “I've told you A MILLION TIMES NOT to leave your trainers on the landing!” - “We are working towards a world in which people won't be starving in their millions, which is not full of pain, suffering, misery and war ...”).
• Notice if and when the recipients of such instructions are in a trance state – people in an audience, family members who are half tuned out and “in a world of their own”, people in awe or admiration of the speaker, wide eyed and wide open, etc.
• Notice when you yourself go into trance.
• Notice your own responses to language, and the experiences you have yourself with language.

Practice Makes Perfect!

Overcoming The Fear Of Hypnosis

The Fear Of Being Hypnotised

• Loss of control
• Give away secrets
• Not come back
• Being "put under"
• Ethical concerns
• Be programmed to do something against your will
• General lack of trust in self and others
• Previous bad experiences with hypnotists

The Fear Of Being The Hypnotist

• Being afraid of “your power over people”
• Being afraid of the responsibility of trance
• Rejecting hypnosis as unnatural or evil
• Rejecting hypnosis as being irrelevant to an energy healer
• Previous bad experiences with hypnotists

Trance & Energy Flow

When you have good rapport with the client, energy flows more freely in trance and the experience of energy becomes heightened.

This is very beneficial both for the EMO session, as well as for the results for the client.

The trance states of EMO are never so deep that the client loses consciousness; you are always working WITH the client, entering trance with the client, and experiencing similar experiences the client is having.

YOUR ability to enter into trance states that are perfect for EMO to work the best it can is the KEY for the client to be able to enter into these trance states likewise.

The better YOU are at trance yourself, the better the experience for your client will be.

Embracing Your Inner Hypnotist

Remember: Trance and hypnosis are NATURAL human abilities.

Understanding trance, internal experiences and language improves:

• Confidence in communication.
• Ability to help the client to the best of your abilities.
• Learn to be aware of a wide variety of different trance states.
• To use trance states for your own energy work and self help.
• The ability to use trances in a natural way to bring out the best in people.
• To know that you have done a good job on all levels and layers.
• To give people the gift of positive suggestions when they are no longer with you.

"Embrace your inner hypnotist!"

First published in the EMO Conference Manual 2009.