In our view, a hypnotherapist should practise hypnotism in its purest form, while thinking with the depth and clarity of a philosopher. We must embrace our own humanity when we help our clients to navigate the same human condition. We must value truth, reason and conscience when we claim to instill better thinking in our clients.
In order to meet your expectation of rapid breakthroughs, we cannot expect you to arrive at all the answers or solutions yourself. Nor can we plan for you to return for very many sessions. We do not want you to explore your history or speak about your problem at length, once we’ve gained an understanding of it. Instead, we provide strongly directive guidance for your inner world in ways that other professionals, such as doctors and therapists, typically do not.
Our guidance starts with the premise that there is such a thing as higher-quality thinking, that it’s the thought process of somebody who does not have your problem despite being in similar circumstances, and that long-term change happens once you’ve adopted their principles as your own. Normally, it’s a solid grounding in what’s truthful and reassuring, or truthful and empowering. Often, our clients who feel stuck simply have never received helpful guidance as to what to think.
“Let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.”
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War
By definition, hypnosis requires you to suspend your usual mode of thinking and to listen to ours, which makes transparency paramount. The work that we produce for free, such as our video content and custom-written treatment plans, is to ensure that you understand what we believe “higher-quality thinking” entails before you agree to accept it for yourself. We would be pleased if you helped yourself to these resources: In our view, good ideas should spread widely, even if our personal attention comes at a cost.
In summary, we find that hypnotherapy works best when the client listens closely to the hypnotist’s sincere expression of helpful and principled thinking. We specifically reject technique-based, counselling-like and expressly spiritual approaches to hypnotism in favour of this “strongly directive, with prior informed consent” approach that makes rapid change the norm.