[00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of success in mind. I am your host, Teri Holland. So today we're going to dive into a fascinating topic, hypnotherapy for high performance. And this topic is very close to my own heart as a trainer of hypnotherapy and a master hypnotherapist myself. So the clients I work with are high performing individuals who want to maximize their potential and We can use hypnotherapy to do just that.
[00:00:31] First of all, let's talk about what hypnotherapy is, or even more importantly, what it isn't.
[00:00:54] There are a lot of misconceptions about hypnotherapy. Hollywood has not done any favours to the field of hypnosis. So, let's talk about what hypnosis is not. Hypnosis is not power over another person. It's not mind control. In hypnosis, there's nothing I can do or say to make a person behave in a way that goes against their values or their beliefs.
[00:01:22] So Hollywood has led people to believe that hypnotherapy is a form of mind control or power over another person, and that is absolutely not true. In fact, most people are really surprised to find that they are totally in control for the entire session you know, people expect in a hypnosis session that they're going to be totally out of it, they're not going to remember anything, and that's not the case.
[00:01:48] Most people find that they remember a good majority of the hypnosis, if not all of it. There is a small percentage of the population that may experience hypnotic amnesia, which is you know, just to say that they do forget because they're so relaxed that the conscious mind takes a little break while they're in that state of hypnosis.
[00:02:10] That is a very small percentage of the population. And usually that only happens when a person has been hypnotized several times. So they're, they're very used to going into that trans state and they really trust the hypnotherapist. It's usually someone they've been working with for a while, they have a deep connection to them, and so they're, they're able to relax to the point that they forget.
[00:02:35] I've had that happen to me on two occasions, both with the same hypnotherapist who happens to be my BFF. So there's definitely a deep level of trust there. And being a hypnotherapist myself... I'm very used to going into trance, so I was able to relax into such a deep state that I did not remember anything except the first few words.
[00:02:58] In fact, I remember that experience because we were doing this online. I was sitting here in my office and he started the induction online. The next thing I knew, he said, one, eyes open, wide awake, and I thought, he's joking. He didn't hypnotize me. In my mind, no time had passed. He had started the hypnotic induction and I thought he just paused and then said, one, pretending I had been in this deep trance for a period of time.
[00:03:31] And I looked at the clock on my computer and like 30 minutes had passed. I was dumbfounded because I had never experienced that kind of hypnotic amnesia before. So. It does happen. It's possible. But if it's your first time being hypnotized, or you've only done it a few times, chances are you're not going to experience that.
[00:03:54] You will be very aware the whole time, and you will remember everything that happens. So hypnosis is not what people have been led to believe it is. So then what is it? Well, hypnotherapy is a therapeutic process. It's a technique to induce a state of trance. In this trance state, we, the hypnotherapists, we can communicate directly to your unconscious mind.
[00:04:19] That's where behavior learning and change happens. So, it's a deep feeling of relaxation for the body, and a heightened awareness for the mind. And in this state, we can help individuals to break through mental barriers, limiting beliefs, the stuff that holds us back from being the best versions of ourselves, or from achieving the things that we want to achieve.
[00:04:46] Now in high performance, high performance is deeply connected to mindset and the mind can be both our greatest asset and our greatest obstacle. So hypnotherapy is a way of harnessing the power of the unconscious mind to harness the power of our thoughts and beliefs to optimize human performance. And that's Typically how I use it with my clients.
[00:05:11] Most of my clients are high performance, high performance clients. So they're in positions of leadership. They're in, you know, high ranking positions in business. They're entrepreneurs, they're business owners, they're, um, they're running teams of people and they need to be performing at their absolute best.
[00:05:31] So one of the, Greatest benefits of hypnotherapy is the ability to overcome a limiting belief or a limiting decision, as we call them in NLP. So these are negative thoughts that hold us back. So these could be thoughts like, I'm not good enough. I can't do what I want. I never get what I want. And so you might hear yourself.
[00:05:55] Thinking those things from time to time, you might even say them out loud, and those kinds of doubts, those limiting beliefs, limiting decisions are rooted in the unconscious mind, and using hypnotherapy, we can get to the root of that, we can pull out that belief and replace it with something that's positive and supportive, empowering for the individual.
[00:06:20] Now, many people use hypnotherapy and in fact, you know, athletes, celebrities, high performers are using hypnotherapy techniques all the time to drive their success. I mean, really it's about getting to that next level so we can use hypnotherapy to focus the mind towards specific outcomes. And here are some very famous people that you've probably heard of who have used hypnotherapy.
[00:06:47] My favorite is Albert Einstein and he used He used self hypnosis, um, every day to be able to access his creativity and to problem solve. And in fact, rumor has it that his theory of relativity came out of one of these hypnosis sessions. Tiger Woods, the legendary golfer, used hypnotherapy to improve his mental focus and concentration.
[00:07:13] So if you're looking to improve your game in any sport, hypnotherapy can actually help you to achieve that. Winston Churchill. The former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, he used hypnotherapy to overcome a fear of public speaking. This is one I often do quite a bit with my clients. Often clients come to me with a fear of public speaking, or even just a fear of being seen online, and we use hypnotherapy to overcome that fear.
[00:07:42] In fact, we can use hypnotherapy to overcome any fear or any phobia that you might be faced with. Um, many celebrities have used therapy to quit smoking, and that's often... I think what people think about when they think about hypnotherapy is they think smoking cessation.
[00:07:59] So that would include Matt Damon. Um, who else? Uh, Adele apparently used it to quit smoking. Sean Connery used it to quit smoking. Um, Like, quite a few celebrities have used this to quit smoking. And then we have other celebrities like, uh, Drew Barrymore used hypnotherapy to overcome various addictions, weight loss, personal challenges.
[00:08:26] David Beckham also used it to improve athletic performance and focus. And then like Princess Diana used it to cope with stress and challenges of royal life. So, and that's just a handful, that's just a handful of them that have. openly talked about using hypnotherapy for these reasons. So hypnotherapy is a very broad term.
[00:08:49] There's many different applications for it. Um, and it's important, I think, to know that hypnotherapy is not a one size fits all solution. So we want to work with our clients as hypnotherapists and especially as high performance hypnotherapists. We work with our clients to You know, assess their needs and to customize hypnotherapy to customize the process for each specific client, because not everyone is the same and not everyone responds to the same kind of hypnotic suggestion.
[00:09:24] And I've seen incredible transformations in clients who have adopted hypnotherapy, who have come to me for hypnotherapy. You know, for example, I recently worked with a woman on weight loss and improving her confidence and. The, the transformation in her was absolutely astonishing at how, like, mostly her confidence was just.
[00:09:50] incredible. By the time we were finished working together, her confidence was, um, I want to say like palpable, like it was, it felt tangible. It was real. She was a totally different person, the way she spoke, the way she carried herself. You know, I've done hypnotherapy with clients to overcome anxiety, to help them deal with social situations.
[00:10:13] And then of course, public speaking, I work with quite a bit, quite a bit. You know, it's one of the biggest fears people have is public speaking, and you've probably heard that before they there's the Seinfeld joke that people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of dying. And I'm going to butcher this, but Seinfeld has a joke, I think, I'm pretty sure it was Seinfeld who said that means that at a funeral, most people would rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy.
[00:10:45] And while it seems like just a funny joke, there's a lot of truth in that. The fear of public speaking is intense for many people and hypnotherapy can help cut through that fear and to desensitize a person to it so that not only are they able to public speak. But they can even start to enjoy it. In fact, um, my business partner and I, and the public speaking training we offer, we worked with someone last spring who had an intense fear of public speaking.
[00:11:17] And by the time we were done with him, he not only was able to confidently speak and to bypass his fear, he was He was like, I want more of this. I want to do this all the time. I'm, I feel hooked. I want to speak every chance I can get. So that's really a testament to the power of hypnotherapy. Now, if you're considering hypnotherapy to help you overcome any challenges or obstacles in any area of life, I would suggest that you find a qualified hypnotherapist.
[00:11:54] Fortunately, and unfortunately, hypnotherapy is not a regulated profession. So um, that doesn't, you know, that, that means that hypnotherapists vary. Greatly in terms of their experience, in terms of their training and their ability, and I think it's really important for the consumer for the clients that you find someone who's well qualified, well trained, has experience and really somebody who you can trust.
[00:12:25] Even though hypnotherapy is very safe, like I mentioned earlier, a hypnotherapist can't make you do something you don't want to do. There are ethical considerations , so really, you want to work with someone who has the utmost integrity, who knows what they're doing, and can assist you in making profound, profound change. You know, I've seen incredible transformations in people from doing this work, and And that's for high performance. If you want to perform better in business, I would say that hypnotherapy is a tool that you can't afford to not be utilizing.
[00:13:08] , it will take you far beyond, far beyond where you think you can go yourself. And it will get you there in a much faster time than other modalities of coaching or therapy. That's my humble, completely biased opinion as a hypnotherapist and hypnosis.
[00:13:33] Okay, so if you have any questions about hypnotherapy, feel free to reach out to me. The best place is always on Instagram, at the Teri Holland, that's the best place to find me. You can email me. I'll put my email in the show notes. Uh, you can find me on my website. You can contact me on LinkedIn, wherever, wherever you feel like you're at.
[00:13:55] You want to contact me if you have any questions about hypnotherapy, and I'd be happy to answer any of those questions. I hope you're having a phenomenal day. If you found this podcast interesting, if you found it to be a value, then leave that five star review, whether you're on Spotify or an Apple podcasts.
[00:14:16] And I look forward to being back with you again next week. Bye for now.