Traveling Hypnosis Medicine Show

View from the balcony of the Camelot Hotel at Myrtle Beach, SC.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about working for John Morgan Seminars and traveling the country and doing 2 hour Hypnosis programs for weight loss and smoking cessation is that they actually work. Years ago I taught, in my hypnosis classes, of the superiority of private sessions because they were tailored to the individual. Basically I thought that large scale group hypnosis did not work and was essentially a rip off.

I was wrong.

For some people I believe group hypnosis programs work better than private sessions because of the added leverage of public commitment. Maybe, in some or even most cases, individual sessions might work even better, but I've discovered that when done right, large scale, group hypnosis does work. I get feedback about it all the time. Like just last week, we were putting on a program at the convention center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A few hours before the seminar we were setting up the room and a gentleman stuck his head in the door and said Hello. He told us he'd been to our event in Parkersburg, WV, a few weeks earlier and was now 20 days smoke free and didn't even have any urges. He was here in Myrtle Beach at a convention for his industry and when he saw our sign felt compelled to come over and talk to us. He was extremely grateful and just wanted us to know. He said it was the best $69.95 he'd ever spent.

How cool is that?

Fact is our percentage of successful quitters is dizzingly high. I am sure the weight loss folk have a tougher time of achieving their goals but they do well too. What's great about it is that for most people attending these things, they have little or no prior experience with this sort of change work or even this sort of thinking. It really is quite revolutionary for them.

Credit goes to John Morgan for creating these most excellent 2 hour seminars. They utilize a variety of techniques to assist in people getting the change they desire... from traditional hypnosis to Ericksonian patterns to NLP anchoring techniques. I met John years ago at a Dave Dobson "Funshop" and he really put Dave's lessons to work, especially that "Pebble Kicking" thing we talked about a couple of weeks ago.

Me, I get to travel around, feel good about helping people, and stay in nice hotels like the one pictured. Plus, I can now order at Applebees without the need of a menu.
Does life get any better than that?

Embedded Commands

Ericksonian Language Patterns —
Embedded Commands are commands that are placed within the framework of a larger sentence structure, thereby sneaking by the conscious mind. e.g., "Very often, people find that they discover many useful inner resources while in trance." Some suggested sentence openings: "Maybe you'll... I don't know if... A person may not know if... Maybe you haven't...,yet." (More about that yet soon, but not yet.)

Notice that the command part itself starts with a verb. You are telling the person to DO something. Here and now. So that verb tense is the present tense. "Do something." Not "doing something" or "did something."

If you were to tell someone directly to go to the store, you'd say

"Go to the store."

To embed that command within a longer sentence and thus hide it a bit it might be more like,

"If anyone here wanted to be a dear, they could go to the store for me now."

Here are some more examples:

"Maybe you'll discover new resources you didn't even know you had."

"I don't know if you'll feel wonderful about it."

"A person may not know if you're drifting into trance." (includes a pattern called switching the referential index.)

"Maybe you haven't begun to enjoy that delightful feeling of trance, yet."

A. Adding their Name
These commands can be made more powerful if you insert their name into the sentence structure just before the embedded command.

"One can, Elizabeth, feel comfortable in new situations."

"A person could, Phillip, notice a growing sense of distance from that problem."

"People don't have to, Bob, listen intently to everything that I say."

B. "Now"
"Now" is not a magic word. Sometimes beginning NLP students over use 'now.' Used effectively, it can enhance an embedded command, but it alone does not an embedded command make. Often the most effective way to use it is to... pause... before you use it and then use your best trance tonality when you say it. (If you run it into the sentence without this pause it can make the sentence sound too imperative and the person feel rushed.)

"You might want to learn to enjoy that meaningful pause . . . now."

(Remember that without shifts in tonality, etc., there is no command at all. You must shift your tonality in a way that is noticeable and analogous to a command, right at the verb of the sentence. You are telling them to DO something.
Additionally, it is most useful to pause just a beat before the command. This further sets it apart in a very subtle, yet effective, way)

So, now, here's an idea: Write your own examples. The best way to learn is by doing. Write them down and then practice saying them out loud with the proper tonal shift. Practice delivering them to a human being. Write at least ten. Twenty is better. Perhaps you'll find that you utilize the eight sentence openings offered on this page and then go from there.

Use them on waitresses: "You might find you want to bring me a cup of coffee."
on bus drivers: "People can... let me out at the corner."

Be Respectful AND Have Fun.