Think Thin Get Slim

Below is an article I wrote for my friend Joshua Houghton’s hypnosis blog about weight loss.

Weight loss.

The two words that either strike fear or bring joy to the hearts of hypnotists.

For some hypnotists weight loss is a wonderful opportunity. A weight loss client often comes in for multiple sessions over the long term, has clearly measurable results, and is a veritable walking billboard for you as a hypnotist, as all her friends and family ask her how she dropped the 50 pounds. A single success can be worth thousands of dollars in additional business.

For others weight loss presents a massive challenge. Either it’s because they find themselves overweight and so can’t seem to get the client to change, or they don’t have a concrete plan. Weight loss is often a complex issue with many factors involved, and nailing all of them can often be quite a challenge.

In this article I’m going to speak about weight loss in the context of my overall therapeutic approach, and I’ll be giving you some very clear and concrete suggestions on how to develop a program with weight loss clients. If you yourself have weight issues, you might find yourself applying these ideas to your own problem and dropping some excess baggage yourself!

The main challenge that I faced as a beginning hypnotist and therapist was the issue of context. Many times I conducted the ‘perfect session’ in the therapy room, yet later my clients would come back complaining that the change didn’t stick, or that in ‘real life’ there was no change. I quickly leaned that ‘real life’ and the therapy room were two different worlds, and the issues the client presented in the therapy room weren’t the actual issues the client was facing. Consciously they thought one thing, but reality was not like that.

To solve this, I developed a whole host of ways to bring ‘real life’ to the therapy room and have the symptoms join us right then and there so we could work on the real issues. The method that I find most effective is tasking.

When I task a client, I give them something to do in real life that I think will provoke the problem. When the client comes back the next week and tells me what went wrong, we can then work on that and make some very real progress. This makes sure that what we work on isn’t only something the client thinks is the problem, it is an actual block to their success. And so for example, when my social anxiety client reported back that he couldn’t complete his task of going over to one person per day and saying “hi”, I asked him what stopped him. We discovered that he had this voice that told him “stop!”. Once we worked with the voice, his main problem was resolved.

Once you have this concept down clearly, you quickly realize that weight loss clients are very simple to work with. Instead of trying to analyze and figure out what is wrong in the therapy room, I give the client my very very simple “Think Thin Get Slim” plan to follow and send them out into the real world. The program includes a simple eating system, a belief change element which I usually do in the live session, and a very powerful process I developed called ABTC that works directly with the subconscious to instantly change emotions, cravings, and automatic thoughts. It also includes a self-hypnosis cd that reinforces the program and the changes made.

I then have the client keep track of what they experience when they find themselves having difficulty following the plan. Once I have that information, I work on that issue and send them out again. I once again have them notice any roadblocks, and in the next session we resolve those too.

Very often as the client drops more and more weight, different issues arise. It’s almost as if every layer of fat has its own reason for being there and its own story to tell. As the previous layer comes off, the next one gets its chance.

When I work on weight loss with this approach, my clients don’t gain the weight back. That’s because instead of simply pumping the client with motivation and suggestions, doing some age regressions and parts, and peeling the pounds off, we have worked through the real issues that the layers of fat have been hiding.

My starting schedule with weight loss clients goes as follows:
Session one.
One week break.
Session Two.
Two week break.
Session Three.
Three week break.
Session Four.
One month break.
Session Five.

In this way, I see the client 5 times over a two and a half month period. That gives us plenty of time to work through whatever comes up and set the client on a smooth path going forward. The schedule is obviously flexible according to the needs of the individual client. If a client is having trouble, I will pack the sessions closer together. I use the above schedule as a general guideline.

And so to you the hypnotist who feels fear when you hear the words “Weight Loss” , know that those sorry days are over! Simply develop a comprehensive weight loss program that gives the client a clear set of tasks to follow, and then troubleshoot from there!

My ThinkThinGetSlim program is launching on Sunday Feburary 13th at 9AM.

When you order you will receive the instant download which includes:

-An audio interview that teaches you the entire system step by step.
-The program manual that makes it even more crystal clear.
-The super powerful self hypnosis audio that will completely reprogram your mind to the ‘thin’ mindset.
-A masterful belief creation program that will completely rewire your subconscious to make your change automatic and easy.
-The super powerful ABTC system which nearly instantly transforms emotions, cravings, and automatic thoughts.
-Instant access to the ThinkThinGetSlim private forum, where I Joe will personally be providing rock solid support and will be available to answer your questions to get you thin once and for all.

If you can make it to the bottom of the sales page my marketer made me place up there, you’ll see that although the regular price is $297, for 72 hours after launch the price is slashed to $97.

The website is www.thinkthingetslim.com

Go and get your copy today!

Good luck and have fun!

Joe

PS If you found these ideas useful, you might be interested in joining my online supervision group.

Feel Good Instantly!

This last cool idea came from a client…

In the session we ended up chatting with his older self. We asked for a useful belief for his younger self to have. The older self gave us “I’m not perfect and don’t need to be”.

And so the client tried it out. He closed his eyes, and sincerely said “I’m not perfect and don’t need to be”. The moment he said that something pretty cool happened… he felt a massive wave of relief and relaxation.

We started going through all his various problems, and we used them as proof that he isn’t perfect and doesn’t need to be.

It ended up that whenever he thought to himself “I have anxiety”, that thought made him feel awesome 🙂

And so thats the new tool. When something is bothering you just say “I don’t need to perfect, and I’m not, proof being (insert problem here)”.

Go do it now! Think of something thats bothering you. Something that you have been workign on for a long time, or a flaw that you think you have that you’re upset or embarrased about. Then say the magic words… “I don’t need to perfect, and I’m not, proof being (insert problem here)”.

Then just notice the tangible feeling of relief and relaxation 🙂

Use, Enjoy, and Comment!

Joe

DVD Now Available!

I’m happy to announce that you can now purchase my DVD ‘Hypnosis in Therapy’ right here on the blog.

In this DVD I present a comprehensive model for therapy that strongly utilizes the conscious/subconscious model.

I speak about goal setting, SCRM, provocative and motivational  interviewing techniques, the conscious/subconscious mind model, hot states/cold states, the therapeutic triangle, and a lot more.

I include quite a few fascinating case stories from my private practice that clearly illustrate how to use these powerful techniques.

Run time is 1 hour 7 minutes.

The DVD is $25, with free shipping in the US.

International shipping is $5.

Enjoy!

The Panel Audios

Exciting news!

Here are the audios from “The Panel”.

The Panel is consisted of 4 talented, experienced, world famous hypnotists…

Jon Chase

Richard Nongard

Anthony Jacquin

Michael Ellner

And it’s hosted by me Joe Fobes.

Our first discussion was on pretalk and intake, and it was a smashing success. I now use in my practice, quite a few of the ideas that were presented in the discussion.

And so here are the audios

Introduction

Intake

Pretalk

Can You Make Them Rob Banks?

I’ll be posting details about the next panel discussion when they are available.

Enjoy and comment!

Subjective and Objective

Alright. As hypnotists we have one goal. To create your reality. Once we are in charge of reality, we suggest and reality and your mind makes it real. “You are stuck to the floor”.

But how do we get to that point before hypnosis? How do we lead you into the first phenomena?

There are 2 things. Objective and Subjective.

Reality and our experience of reality.

1. (Objective/reality) My hand is stuck.

2. (Subjective/Experience) I feel that my hand is stuck.

Imagining 1 is easy. Imagining 2 is harder.

“Imagine your hand is stuck” is much easier then “imagine you feel that your hand is stuck”.

But its much easier to go from imagining 2 to real 2 then to go from imagining 1 to real 1. Easier to go from imagining feeling a stuck hand to really feeling it, then to go from imagining that it is stuck to thinking that it is.

And so here is the best way to structure your suggestions to lead someone into an experience from scratch.

So we go Imagine 1>>Imagine 2>>Real 2>>Real 1.

Imagine its stuck>>Imagine it feels stuck>>It feels stuck>>It’s stuck.

And we’re there!

Once your subject is hypnotized it’s a different story and we will analyze that in a later post, but this is the best way to get there from scratch.

Secrets of the Subconscious

The legendary Dr. Dave Dobson once spoke about the belief systems that we all have on an other than conscious level. He mentioned how critical they are in determining our emotions, behaviors, and overall level of functioning.

At the same time because they mainly are at a subconscious level, it can be very very difficult to recognize just what they are! We can easily see whats in the box, but seeing what the box itself is made out of can be near impossible.

Then the good doctor revealed the secret to uncovering subconscious belief systems. Whenever you find yourself getting defensive and emotional about something, you know that a belief system of yours had been challenged.

Often we get too involved in our defensiveness and our emotions to realize just what a golden opportunity our subconscious mind is presenting us with! And this is happening while we are being given the secret keys to our very own minds!

Dr. Dobson then said that it might be a good idea to stop the next time we find ourselves getting defensive, and examine just what that says about our belief systems. With some wisdom and self compassion we can then go and reformulate those beliefs so that we can create the life we deserve.

Wise words from a wise man.

Let’s examine for a moment why we get defensive when we have our beliefs challenged and see if we can’t get a bit of a deeper understanding into the inner workings of the subconscious mind.

It all starts with emotions.

Among the many things the subconscious mind does, there is one job that it has that is key. That job is to keep us safe and alive. The prime way the subconscious accomplishes this goal is by using emotions. Emotions are signals from our subconscious mind to take action so that we can be safe. Here is a small list of some common emotions and what they signal:

Fear is the primary emotion. It comes when your subconscious thinks you might be in danger. The action you need to take is fight or flight.

Anxiety is when your subconscious thinks you are not well enough prepared for something. The action you need to take is to prepare yourself.

Anger is when your subconscious thinks you have been treated unfairly. The action you need to take is to even up the score.

Guilt is when your subconscious thinks you have acted unfairly and against your morals. The action you need to take is to right the wrong.

Sadness is when your subconscious thinks you have lost something of value. The action you need to take is to get it back or replace it.

Frustration is when your subconscious thinks that what you’re doing isn’t working. The action you need to take is to try a different way or to give up the project.

The key word in all the above descriptions is “thinks”.  The reality matters very little, it is what your subconscious thinks is reality that makes the emotion.

This is the whole basis for REBT, which focuses on changing your beliefs and basing them more firmly in reality so that your subconscious doesn’t have these thoughts that often. If your subconscious doesn’t think there is a problem, it won’t need to generate an emotion to try to get you to take action to fix the problem.

For reasons I will explain in a later post, the first and most important skill in staying safe is knowing what is real and what is not. The subconscious will do pretty much anything to make sure that a person stays true to reality. Threaten a persons sense of reality, and you will get an emotion quicker than anything else you can do.

And that’s why when we find our beliefs challenged we get so emotional. When our beliefs are challenged, we are in essence being told ‘your reality is not reality, something else is reality’. That to our subconscious, is a very dangerous message.

So long as the subconscious believes that we do have the correct reality, then anything trying to get us to believe otherwise is trying to get us to believe in fantasy. And as we will talk about in the next post, thinking that fantasy is reality can be fatal.

And so with that in mind, take the good doctors words to heart and enjoy finding yourself afraid, anxious, and riled up. Thats when you get to find out what you truly believe so you can do some deep and powerful work to change your beliefs and reality and live a richer and more satisfying life.

You can find part 2 here.

Winning The War

Are you in a war with yourself?

Desperate to change and getting foiled at every turn by your own mind?

Well here’s the big secret.

And that is you can’t have a war if you don’t fight.

When you find something in yourself that you don’t like, don’t fight it.

Accept it, love it, and respect it.

That doesn’t mean you give up your goals and lie down to get run over.

You can still present options, discuss, explore, wonder, and discover new things with those parts of yourself.

It’s going after your goal in a very persistent, calm, and easygoing manner.

Think about it.

If you were part of a company and you were doing something you thought was in the companies best interest even though the upper management disagreed with you. How would we best work with you?

Would it be with fighting and attacking and condemning you?

Or would it be with a full acceptance of your intent, a full acceptance of your right to help in the most powerful way possible, and the opening of a respectful dialog where you got a chance to hear and explore about new ideas?

And if you didn’t want to come to the table because of the years of abuse you got from upper management, well then we would need to give you lots of love and respect until you realized we would respect you and you decided it was safe to talk to us and work with us.

Your mind works for you. It wants to help you. If it does something, I promise that it thinks it is in your best interests.

Fighting it will make it dig its heels in for what it thinks is in your own best good.

Respect, love, and acceptance are the name of the game here. That doesn’t mean you stop trying. It means you try by respectfully exploring new options with your mind.

Go buy Dale Carnegie’s book “how to win friends and influence people”. The friend you want to win and the person you’re trying to influence here is your SC mind. Go get that book right now, and start reading, and use the principals now. They work.

Your SC is real. So treat it with respect, and not like it’s this nasty, fighting, and idiotic part.

Stop the war. If you don’t fight, you can’t be at war. It takes 2 to tango.

Whats especially sad here is that you and your SC both want the exact same thing.

Your safety, happiness and fulfillment.

Just stop.

If you found these ideas useful, you might be interested in joining my online supervision group.

Making your suggestions work

So you’re getting some simple trance effects like arm levitation and catalepsy. You’re even getting partial amnesia. But it seems like some suggestions just wont stick! What do you do now?

Well, it seems you’ve discovered a very very important thing. And that is that even after they are hypnotized, unless they are in somnambulism, you still have to give suggestions properly. Thats because they don’t fully understand what you want. However when they are in somnambulism they become very literal minded and so they take what you say at face value without needing to understand what you want.

Here are 3 key things you can do before they are in somnambulism so that they understand what you mean on all levels and your suggestions work even better.

1. Visualize the effect working and then describe what you see to them. This is crucial. If you want an arm stuck using glue, visualize and imagine completely that your arm is stuck with actual glue, and describe how that looks and feels to them. Describe how it feels to try to lift it. Describe it in the here and now. This is the most important thing in hypnosis.

2. Fit the suggestion into their world. If you have someone who has experienced real glue, the suggestion will work much better. If you get a stuck arm, then suggesting a stuck name will work much better. See where you can use what preexists to slot your suggestion in as a seamless extension of that. Use everything. Their past experiences in life, their experiences with what has worked. Don’t suggest new things, simply extend what already exists. Put some thought into that and how you can make that work. Leverage everything.

3. Say these magical words after you give a suggestion “if you understand that nod your head”. It really does work wonders.

Do these three simple things and you will find that your success with suggestions increases exponentially.

Happy trancing!

Joe

The easy path to weight loss…

Here’s how to lose weight and then maintain your goal weight easily. Having dropped 35 pounds recently (with 25 more to go until I get to my perfect weight) I have been thinking about weight loss a lot. So here’s what I think.

Let’s begin by exploring the difference between skinny and fat people. Skinny people aren’t on diets, they don’t watch what they eat, they don’t exercise, and yet they seem to stay skinny effortlessly. How do they do that?

Of course there are many skinny people with fast metabolisms, but we often see people from the same families that are at different weights. So what might then be the secret to the difference between fat and skinny people?

The answer is very very simple. Skinny people eat until their full, and then they stop. Fat people keep going until there isn’t any food left or until they can’t force any more down.

So which way is more natural? Small children usually don’t stuff themselves, even when they are eating a meal they enjoy. Neither do most animals. Its actually instinctively rather unpleasant to keep eating after you’re already full. Its almost like not going to the bathroom for a few days. You feel stuffed up, sluggish, and uncomfortable.

So why do fat people keep eating after they are full? If you ask them they’ll say ‘I’m still hungry’. But what does that mean? If they are so full how can they still feel hungry?

The answer is rather simple. Hunger is a physical sensation that we feel in two areas of our body. We feel it in our stomach and we feel it in our mouth/throat. I’m sure you know the sensation of your stomach feeling empty. That feeling comes in the morning before breakfast and at any time that you haven’t eaten in a while. Its been described as a dull, low key, uncomfortable sensation.

I’m also sure that you’re familiar with the sensation of hunger in your mouth. That feeling can come when you see a food that you really enjoy and want to eat. It’s often described as a strong craving, its sharper and more ‘alive’.

The secret is that only the stomach sensation is triggered physiologically and is real hunger. When your stomach fills up that sensation goes away. However the mouth feeling is psychologically triggered and more food in your stomach wont satisfy it. It’s only when the psychological need is met or the person is so stuffed that it is nearly impossible to eat that the feeling goes away.

As I’m sure you have guessed by now, skinny people primarily use their stomach hunger to tell them when and how much to eat, and overweight people use their mouth hunger to tell them when to eat. This is the source of the paradoxical ‘I’m really full but I’m still hungry’.

This is why fat people always gain it back, and why skinny people stay skinny. The only easy way to lose your extra weight and maintain your perfect weight is to change from being a fat person into being a skinny person.

In my next post I’ll teach you how to do just that.

Till then enjoy stuffing your face!

Expectancy

Here are a few questions a fellow named Swoop posted on a a forum, and here are my responses and ideas.

1. Do you believe that expectancy is important when hypnotising?

Yes.

2. If so, what active measures do you take to increase your subjects expectancy?

I tell them whats going to happen.
I tell them about the thousands I’ve tranced.
I zap someone in front of them.
I tell them that someone with their unique qualities (it’s rather easy to find out what someone thinks is special about them rather quickly, just ask “so what are you especially good at?”) is especially good for trance.
I explain trance in a way that makes sense to them and fits with their experience. I use examples from their own life (driving on the highway, daydreaming, not seeing the milk in the fridge…).
I use magnetic hands to show them that it “works”.
I tell them after they pass magnetic hands that it’s the hardest part to do and if they can do that then trance is 100 times simpler.
I believe.
I believe some more.
I add on some belief on top of that.

3. Is expectancy the main determinant of the success or failure of hypnosis? Or is the subjects innate ‘hypnotizability’ level more important? Are they both important?

One of the main main things. One might say that high hypnotizables can generate high levels of expectancy very quickly. I would rather have a 20% somnambulist with medium expectancy over an analytical with high expectancy. Once you get to super high expectancy, you already have trance.

4. If you believe that expectancy is highly important, how stable do you believe expectancy is? Does it depend more on the subjects preconceived notions and experiences with hypnosis? Or does it more depend on the skill of the hypnotist in the current hypnosis session? If a subject was to fail the current suggestion, how does this affect future expectancy?

Here is a key rule. The subjects subjective experience is king. Into this category goes past experience.
If we want to create a powerful expectancy, we must create a powerful subjective experience.
How do we do that? First of all we must believe 1000%. This creates a strong experience in our subject of knowing it will work. It’s not a rational thing, its a subjective thing. Ever heard me talk about being THE HYPNOTIST?
This is also why having the subject see you trance someone is so powerful. It’s a subjective experience for the subject, having them see with their very own eyes that it works.
The third way we do this is by doing exercises with them and then framing them properly. This is why magnetic hands done right is so very powerful.

Happy trancing!