I’m very excited! I’ve been asked to take part in a live “hypnosis conversation” with two of the most interesting – and controversial – figures in the world of personal change, James Tripp and Jorgen Rasmussen.
I think it’s going to be great fun to do – and should be absolutely fascinating for those listening in on 31 January.
It’s no wonder that there’s a bit of a buzz about the event online this week.
One of the things that both James and Jorgen have in common is that they work with their clients using conversation and physical activities, in a frame that I’d label “NLP”. But both use the label “hypnosis” to market themselves.
James’s work is labelled “Hypnosis Without Trance”, Jorgen’s “Provocative Hypnosis”.
There’s probably a very pragmatic reason for that: last month 2,240,000 people googled “hypnosis” and only 823,000 “NLP”!
But it got me thinking about the relationship between NLP and hypnosis. To what extent are they simply different labels for the same kind of thing? Are there really significant differences? Is trance important? What is trance anyway?
Are NLP and hypnosis “humpty-dumpty” words, like “coach” vs “mentor”, that can mean what you choose them to mean?
And closer to home, is the work I do, Clean Language, really just a form of hypnosis? At least one person I know of will only teach David Grove’s techniques to trained hypnotists. A much larger proportion of Clean Language facilitators go wide-eyed with horror if you describe Clean language as a form of hypnosis.
What do you think is the relationship between NLP and hypnosis, hypnosis and Clean Language? Please comment below.
Comments from original on judyrees.co.uk
Jack Austin
19 January 2012
Metaphor is the unifying factor in my view between NLP and Hypnosis and Clean Language. Judy Rees taught me that Clean Language is a way to get clients to “unpack” their own metaphors. In this process, my observation is that the client goes into trance similar to but not the same as the so called “trans-derivational search” which occurs when a client is asked a Quantum Linguistics question and their eyes roll back in their head….:-) (I so love it when that happens.)
This “trance” phenomena to my less technically educated mind, seems to be the level of internal searching that goes on with the client. My observation is that when reaching the 3rd level of internal reference–the 3 deep “and what kind of X” question–that clients really achieve a type of Alpha state trance that allows for the unfolding of profound tacit knowledge of their own thinking. The tightly wrapped flower bud unfurls…..
Or so it seems to me….:-) Love your work Judy!!
Bob Collier
20 January 2012
Hypnosis, in my view, is an effect of our limited capacity to consciously process sensory data – that is, it’s only possible to hypnotise somebody because of the limited capacity of our present moment awareness. Whether a person is in a trance or not or physically relaxed or not is irrelevant. If a person’s unconscious mind accepts and responds to sensory data (words, sounds, images, etc) without that data being first subjected to logical analysis, they’re in hypnosis. That sensory data could consist of NLP patterns, Clean Language, EFT tapping, affirmations, what parents tell their children in the pre-verbal stage of their lives, scary movies, anything really, but none of that is hypnosis or a form of hypnosis. But they all can use hypnosis as a vehicle. Or not. That’s my view.
Maarten Aalberse
20 January 2012
About NLP and Clean : I once heard somebody say that NLP is about maximalising the therapist’s influence, and Clean about minimalizing it. Is that difference (if not taken too black-and-whitely) still relevant ?
And between Clean and hypnosis something similar: who delivers the metaphor: the client or the therapist ?
Chris Harrison
26 January 2012
Hypnosis can be performed without any knowledge of NLP.
All NLP practitioners use Hypnosis skills, whether they know it or not.