Havin just finished the first POWA Hypnosis training weekend I though I’d blog about some of the highlights…

While other courses focus on the technical skills of hypnosis, the formula if you like (setup, induction, deepeners, suggestions and wake up), this course was all about the soft skills… Beleif, confidence, audience management and fluidity. Not just what these things are but also how to create and cultivate them.

For many people, confidence is something that (hopefully) comes from years of practical application. It is assumed that confidence will build over time. It is my belief that confidence exists within us all and can be tapped into anytime… as long as you understand WHAT it is and HOW it works. In a nut shell, confidence is what remains when you have removed all the ‘thoughts’ to the contrary. It is the feeling we get when the mind is free from worries, uncluttered by negative thinking and the body not full of tension. In other words, confidence is a mixture of mental calmness and physical relaxation. By physical relaxation I mean that while muscles may well be active they are not TENSE.

Mental anxiety is often due to fear.

If we have a future event, say a hospital appointment or business presentation, rather than waiting for the event and responding to it we CHOOSE the response in advance and work ourselves up to it. Take the example of the hospital appointment. We dont KNOW what the outcome will be, it could be good news or bad. Rather than choosing to feel relaxed and happy for the period of time running up we condition ourselves to expect the worse and spend the time leading uo to he appointment experiencing anxiety every time we think about it. The outcome could be bad new in which case the feeling MAY be accurate… but until you know you would function better in life feeling good. Although this example could be defined as good or bad the real issue is how the feelings affect your life leading up to the appointment. Your negative mood and feelings of anxiety will undoubtadly have an effect on other decisions and interactions unrlated to the appointment itself.

What about experiences which aren’t as clear cut?

What if the event ahead was a business presentation… one where the outcome was almost entirely in your control? Wouldn’t your choice in associated feelings inflence the outcome itself? YES!

The worst influence it often has is when it causes you to avoid doing it altogether!

You can decide to be positive and confident about challenges ahead just as sure as you can decide to be fearful.

Sometimes you just need to prove to yourself that there is no real reason to be fearful. By stepping out of the confines of your own comfort zone you realise what you are really capable of doing. More importantly you begin to understand that fear and tension (a lack of confidence)  is often just a feeling you created.

So, with this in mind I set my delegates a few tasks on Sunday morning in sunny Salisbury…

Hug strangers… lots of them!

Ask for directions and freeze mid sentance and stay frozen

Join a group of people in a cafe… without interaction

Ask someone feeding the ducks for some bread… them stand and eat it!

and many more.

Here is a video of one such FREEZE POINT moment…

FREEZE POINT

ENJOY!