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.