Language is generally thought of as the primary way we interact with each other, and the most powerful way we get our point across.

However, what people miss is that the words you say are only one piece of a very big puzzle.

Master influencers and people who are extremely effective at creating rapid change know the power of silence.

When well timed and well used, silence can be an extremely powerful negotiation tool, and, if you’re working as a hypnotherapist or an NLP practictioner, a very effective way to bypass obstacles, and help people create true transformation.

Get Your Free Report on the Power of Silence Here:

This report will tell you everything you need to know about using silence as a powerful influence tool, whether as a salesperson, a therapist, or even just in everyday life.

What you’re getting is the transcript of lesson 5 in my new “10 Influence Tools” online training program.

Click Here to Download Your Free Report Now

To discover another 9 influence techniques even more powerful than this one, then have a look at the complete” 10 Influence Tools” online program.

You can find out how to get the full course AND get a free audio lesson on the Handshake Induction, if you sign up to the newsletter with the form on the top right of this blog, or by entering your name and email here:

10 Influence Tools Online Training Program (enter your name and email for a free audio lesson on the hypnotic handshake interrupt)

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

Want to communicate with impact and power? Again – no “confidence, no chance.”

The problem is the “confidence myth” sets a lot of people off in the wrong direction.

It starts with people missing one big distinction:

Confidence is Not Certainty

A lot of people think confidence is the same as certainty.

That is, in order to be “confident” you need to be certain that whatever you’re attempting – from a hypnosis induction to an influence strategy – will be successful.

If you have any doubts, fears, nervousness or anxiety, then you lack certainty. If you lack certainty, so the myth goes, you lack confidence.

Chasing certainty is chasing a red herring.  The truth is that in the real world (which most of us like to drop in on, on occasion) there is never true certainty about success.

Sure, you can be pretty certain the sun will rise tomorrow, but you can’t be certain that you’ll achieve a particularly goal to the letter, pull off a particular technique perfectly, or even that success – when you do achieve it – will look and feel like you expected it to.

Keep waiting for certainty, and…

certainty becomes cement!

No matter how brilliant you become as a hypnotist or influencer, there will never be 100% certainty that you be successful.

However, people who feel that they need to be confident before they succeed, and that confidence = certainty will wait forever, hoping that eventually success will be a given.

Wait for certainty, and you’ll be stuck in cement forever.

So, how do you move forward constructively, without certainty?

You now know that confidence is not certainty. There’s another distinction you need to become alert to:

Outcome Dependence Vs. Outcome Acceptance

If you’re waiting for certainty, you’re what people call “outcome dependent.”

You’re performance and sense of self – your “self esteem” if you insist on another buzzword – is connected inseparably from your outcome. If you succeed to the letter, you’re fine. If you fail in anyway, you’ve lost.

This tunnel vision win / lose way of thinking is all too familiar for most of us. At school, you pass or you fail. A correct answer is good, a wrong answer is bad.

At work, a mistake can mean you lose your job, doing what you’re told can lead to a bonus.

Often we learn to focus exclusively on outcome

And yes, of COURSE outcomes matter. I’d never pretend that they don’t…

BUT

Outcomes Aren’t Permanent!

One failure doesn’t spell doom. One upset doesn’t mean the world has ended.

When people get outcome dependent they blow the possibility of failure way out of proportion.

Psychologists know that people are dreadful at predicting our own emotional reactions to future events.

This plus our disposition to see outcomes as binary “failure = bad, success = good” events, means we make the idea of failure 10,000 times more powerful than it really is.

Try this exercise…

Think about something that you think you would like more “confidence” for. A hypnosis or influence techniques, or anything at all.

Ask yourself what the old fashioned way of thinking would define as a successful outcome, or a failed outcome.

Imagine that whatever you’re attempted failed. Run it through it your mind. Actually make it as realistic as possible.

Move forward a month in the future, and imagine looking back on the event from then. Was it really so bad? Probably not. Move forward another year, and then ten years, and you’ll probably laugh over how much time and energy you spent worrying about such a small failure!

Here’s Where Certainty Returns…

So, failure ain’t that bad.

Instead of account dependence, you now have outcome acceptance. You accept any possible outcome, and make yourself ok with this.

You do this by giving yourself certainty in your ability to survive the outcome.

Listen: When it comes to learning a skill and try new things, no matter WHAT the outcome is, you can survive it! Sure you may go through some negative emotion, but it’s not just a cliche that this stuff makes you stronger.

This is where certainty returns.

You are certain that no matter what the outcome, you’ll be just fine.

Now “confidence” becomes irrelevant! No matter what happens – dazzling success or blinding failure – you’ll be OK!

Spend a moment thinking about all the reasons you used to have that convinced you that failure was devastating – break them down, and you’ll realize that, actually, you’re a lot stronger that that, and that no matter the outcome, you will be just fine!

Seneca and Certainty…

At my live seminars, I tell the story of the stoic philosopher Seneca’s answer to greed:

If you are greedy for wealth, the philosopher says, it is actually because you fear poverty.

How do you alleviate this fear? For one week a year, dress yourself in nothing but rags, eat only watery soup, and sleep not on your bed, but on the floor. Wander around in your shabbiest attire and abstain from any expense or luxury.

Do this for a week, and you’ll realize that actually, what you feared was not all that bad. You still had your health, your friends, your faculties.

Having faced your nightmare, you can be certain that you’ll be able to survive it. Therefore, you can relax!

The Story Isn’t Over Yet…

Make this perspective your reality, and you’ll free yourself from a massive amount of anxiety and fear.

Plus, you’ll be able to take sensible risks and face new situations whole heartedly, without fear, because you know that no matter what happens, you’ll be equipped to deal with it.

Know that failure is not permanent, and think of it as part of the learning curve – a part that you’re more than capable of coping with, and you’ll be just fine!

Hope you enjoyed this one! If you think someone else might benefit from a living with less fear, feel free to share this link with them!

Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

Milton Erickson was a therapist and hypnotist based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a few unusual knacks.

Erickson noticed that when his clients came to see him, they often phrased their problems in strange ways. They’d speak in such a way that their totally irrationally problems somehow seemed real, concrete and unchangeable.

Dr. Erickson thought that if these patterns kept people trapped inside problems, then they could probably be used to free people from problems as well.

He began talking to clients in that same language, feeding there patterns back to them. Patterns like…

The Bind, two ideas linked together: “the more you read about language patterns, the more you notice people using them naturally in everyday speech”…

The Double Bind, the illusion of choice … “people find they either find language patterns easy to use or simple to implement in their daily communication”…

Presuppositions… “when (presupposition of time, it’s not if, it’s when) you realize (presupposition of awareness, it’s not whether it’s happening, it’s whether you’ve noticed) how easy it is to use these language patterns, you’ll notice that you’ve already made massive changes in the way you communicate”…

Embedded Commands… When you read this post you’ll discover more ways to use these patterns in your interactions…

Cause – Effect patterns,... Reading this post means you’re learning about hypnotic language patterns, and because you’re learning these patterns, it means you can use them naturally in your everyday interactions.

And a lot more besides! Grinder and Bandler broke down these patterns, and called the model they created “The Milton Model.”

The patterns aren’t logical, but they play into the way the mind thinks, and creates a compelling motivation for actions and beliefs.

The Milton Model is today used by therapists, businessmen, marketers and more to connect with people, change their beliefs and attitudes, and motivate them to take action, and create change.

How To Use Hypnotic Language Patterns without Sounding Crazy…

There are those who say language patterns are absurd, that they could never possibly be used in a real life conversation, and are at best a crutch for the anxious or nervous hypnotist.

They assume that in order to use language patterns in normal conversations, you have to drastically change the way you speak.

Here’s the secret: you don’t!

The fact is, language patterns are used by us in our everyday lives, all the time! The trouble is, they’re normally used for negative things.

Every time someone says “ I’ve realized I’ll either fail now, or give up” (presupposition of awareness followed by a double bind), or “ the more I talk to him, the more annoyed I get” (bind), they are using language patterns!

Open your ears, and you’ll find people use patterns of the Milton Model all the time! They are a natural function of English language communication!

So, rather than allowing us to trap ourselves into our problems with these patterns, why not use them to help free our minds, get what we want from life, and help others do the same?

Keep an ear out for language patterns in your everyday interactions, and ask yourself how you can use these patterns for the results you want.

Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

People ask “how can I act differently so that I get more from life.”

The very premise of that question concedes that how you are is wrong, but rather than improve yourself on a deep level, you should simply modify a few external behaviors, and pretend that you’re something that you’re not.

So, people learn techniques, and tools and patterns and principles, and set about trying to consciously change their behavior, without changing themselves.

While the patterns and techniques certainly are powerful and are used by many for great effect, at the end of the day they are empty… unless you are congruent!

What Is Congruence

Congruence is when your beliefs and your actions are aligned.

It is when you are what you do.

If you look to anyone who is truly charismatic and persuasive, you’ll notice that while they probably are using techniques of influence, consciously or otherwise, what really makes the difference is that they are congruent with what they are doing.

Why Is Congruence So Powerful?

There are dozens of answers to this question.

Congruence is powerful because incongruence is extremely noticeable – if you are using techniques to veil or hide your personality, I’m afraid it tends to stick out. People can tell that you aren’t really being you, and while you make get some results, it will only be a faint shadow of what you’d achieve whilst being congruent.

How To You Become Congruent?

Well, actually congruence is easy!

It’s what we naturally are. The answer is simply stop being incongruent!

Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that. But the first step is always awareness. Become aware of the importance of congruence, and start consciously stopping yourself from acting incongruently in your interactions.

It can be confusing at first – many of us have been stopping ourselves from being congruent all our lives, and it’s a real effort to remember which behaviors are authentic to us, and which ones are the masks that we’re simply accustomed to wearing.

How to Use Tools of Influence Whilst Being Congruent

There is nothing more powerful than someone who is both congruent and a skilled and well trained influencer. These people truly live free and fulfilled lives, and help others do likewise.

When I teach persuasion and influence skills, my goal is to always help you balance technique with congruence. This means that as well as learning the cool tricks of influence that are so popular – pattern interrupts, language techniques and so on – you’ll learn to integrate them into your natural, congruent way of interacting.

This means you can walk through the world whilst naturally being a powerful influencer – without having to fake it.

The key to this is to realize that who we are changes. So, rather than asking yourself “how can I pretend to be a better influencer than I am” simply ask yourself “how can I become a better influencer than I am…”

It may seem blindingly simple, but this one fundamental shift will free you from the baggage which seems to trap 99% of society!

For some powerful influence training, keep your eyes peeled for a free audio lesson on pattern interrupts and the hypnotic handshake induction, which will be ready for you shortly!

I’ll see you soon!
Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

Way back when I first started learning street hypnosis, this was the only instant induction I could consistently get to work.

It’s one of the simplest and most reliable instant inductions there is, and I still use it now.

In this video you’ll learn exactly how this induction works, and the step by step formula that you can use right away to make it happen.

You’ll have to bare with me however, as I’m traveling at the moment, and literally just shot this video with my iPhone camera in a hotel in England! The frames a little squashed, but the audio is very clear, and if you make it full screen, it should be easy to watch.

Video: An Easy Instant Hypnosis Induction

Here’s a Summary of the 7 Steps for hypnotic induction…

1: Physically set up (Trick: use lots of little suggestions to build compliance)

2: Describe – tell them exactly what’s going to happen (Trick: use dissociative language for physical phenomena)

3: Emphasize with imagination

4: Repeat 2 & 3 until their hands are close together

5: Set up trigger (Trick: have you spotted the patterns in the line “do not go into a trance until those hands touch…“)

6: Release trigger – touch the hands together and give the firm “sleep” command

7: Deepen – talk right away, firmly and calmly, reassure them, tell them they’re doing fine.

Here’s a summary of the three things your “awakener” requires…

1: Return them to a normal state of awareness (note: while trance is actually a normal state, by this I mean a state of alertness and external focus)

2: Make them feel great!

3: Emphasize “everything is back to normal.”

Keep your eyes peeled for “Real Hypnotic Phenomena!”

Make sure you’re on my newsletter (use the form on the sidebar above) and keep your eyes on your inbox! I’m super excited about the release of Real Hypnotic Phenomena, and I’m sure you’ll also be blown away but what this program will give you the power to do.

I’ll talk to you again soon!
Cheers,
Nathan

Ever wanted a quick, simple and dramatic demonstration of the power of hypnosis that you can do almost anywhere?

The hand lock is exactly what the doctor ordered! In this 10 minute audio recording, I’ll walk you through – step by step – how to use hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion to “glue” someone’s hands together.

This makes a dazzling demonstration of the power of hypnosis, an undeniable convincer, and, if you choose, an almost irresistible instant hypnosis induction.

Listen to the audio here:

How To Lock Someone’s Hands Together With Hypnosis, and Demonstrate The Power of the Mind

Keep your eyes peeled for the launch of my first ever 100% video training program, “Real Hypnotic Phenomena – Get Powerful Results with Hypnosis Fast” which will be out very soon!

Hope you’re enjoying twenty-twelve!
Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

I planned to leave it up for 4 or 5 days, but it sold so fast I ended up pulling it down after just 48 hours, with hundreds of copies already gone! It turns out, people REALLY want to learn Street Hypnosis! The book is longer available, but if you’re on my free newsletter, you’ll be the first to know when it’s next up for grabs.

There’s clearly a huge fascination with “Street Hypnosis” in the world of NLP / hypnosis / self development.

People love the idea of being able to walk up to someone, say a few words, and lead them though a powerful and dramatic hypnotic experience, which leaves them feeling great, and the spectators gaping.

Many others of course, ask the question “WHY!?”

Why, they ask, would you spend your time hypnotizing random strangers out on the street, totally free of charge?

Let me give you an answer. In fact, I’ll give you three – PLUS I’ll show you a free video on how to DO street hypnosis – from start to end!

In 2012, Keys To The Mind is going to be going WAY deep into some powerful ideas around persuasion, influence, personal growth and some new and powerful hypnosis ideas.

The next product I’ll be releasing to you guys (I’m recording the final segments over the next few days) is called “Real Hypnotic Phenomena – Get  Powerful Results with Hypnosis Fast.”

This is a video training program on how to rapidly elicit powerful hypnotic phenomena, such sticking someone’s hand to a wall, getting someone to forget their own name, and much more, in just a few moments, with or without an induction.

Many will probably label this a “Street Hypnosis” product – and in many ways it is, although hypnotic phenomena is also particularly powerful in stage hypnosis, and even conversational hypnosis.

I’ve spent many years fascinated by Street Hypnosis, and this video course will fill in the gaps, and give you the tools to get powerful and undeniable results in minutes, even if you’ve failed in the past.

So, why do it?

Three Reasons Why You Should Do Street Hypnosis

1: It’s *awesome* practice.

Whether your goal is to eventually take the classic path, and become a clinical or stage hypnotist, or whether, like me, you’re fascinated by how to get the most out of the mind, and walk through the world with ease and personal power, Street Hypnosis is a fantastic training tool.

When you can stand before a crowd of skeptical strangers and, with someone you’ve never met before, lead them into a dazzling display of hypnotic phenomena, your confidence will go through the roof, and you’ll learn a pile about how to lead a group, and effectively influence others in pressured circumstances.

2: It Shows People the Power of the Subconscious Mind

Too many people go through life the victim of their own mind. They wake up in the morning bored and tired, drag themselves to a job they hate, glare at the clock for 8 hours, get stuck in traffic on the way home, glare at the TV for hours, then roll into bed.

Street Hypnosis – done the way I teach – is not just a cheap parlor trick – it’s a way of showing off the true power and potential of the mind.

Show people how much strength they have been keeping locked away inside their own subconscious, and they’ll realize that life really is what YOU make of it.

As a Street Hypnotist, you’re showing people how to take control of their own mind, and blast past the barriers that have been trapping them in the past.

3. It’s Phenomenal Marketing!

If you’re a hypnotherapist or clinical hypnotist, or even a stage performer, what better way to promote your services could their possibly be than by hypnotizing people out and about in your home town, and giving them first hand experience of the power of hypnosis?

Bring a stack of business cards with you, and within just a few short hours you could have filled your appointment book for the next month!

Ok, that’s the WHY… now here’s the HOW.

Remember, keep your eyes peeled for the ‘Real Hypnotic Phenomena’ program which will be released very soon – if you want to take Street Hypnosis to the next level and get a massive success rate, you do not want to miss this!

In the mean time, if you haven’t already, make sure you watch this video entitled “5 Steps to Instant Street Hypnosis” – in it I’ll show you everything you need to do to get started right now, and understand every stage of the street hypnosis process, from instant induction to wake up!

5 Steps to Instant Street Hypnosis

Hope you enjoyed that – will see you soon!
Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

PS

Footnote: What Is Hypnotic Phenomena?

Hypnotic Phenomena is real hypnosis. It’s how you use hypnotic suggestion to change people’s feelings and beliefs, their thoughts, and their actions.

You’ll be familiar with examples such as the hand stick – use hypnosis to stick someone’s hand to a wall, a powerful and dramatic hypnotic phenomena display – and name amnesia, using hypnotic suggestion to have an intelligent person temporarily forget their own name.

Hypnotic phenomena can be used before, after or even AS a hypnotic induction. It is the most important part of Street Hypnosis – master phenomena ALONE, and you’ll be head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd, and will be able to get dazzling and dramatic responses, whenever you want to.

The allure of being “The Hypnotist” is often so powerful that people forget there are many other ways to create change and transformation, in yourself and in others.

I’m writing this in London, after spending the weekend teaching at Hypnotic Transformations Live. Watching the rain out of the window in a coffee shop, I thought I’d share with your four ways to create powerful changes… without using “hypnosis.”

Hopefully this post will give you some ideas and show you just how many tools, models and methodologies you have available.

Tool 1: NLP

Some people say that NLP was created as a way to “take hypnosis out of hypnosis,” and market disguised hypnosis techniques to main stream therapists, and the corporate world.

The overlap between NLP and hypnosis (whatever “hypnosis” is…) is massive, but there are a lot of new things to pick up. My biggest piece of advice if you are going to look into NLP is not to get sucked into what I consider the rather cult like world of trainers, certifications and “camps.”

Learn from who you like, and use what you find valuable, and don’t worry about which NLP big name’s logo you want to be able to put on your wall!

Tool 2: Old School Persuasion and Influence

The field of persuasion, influence is huge! From sales training to presentation skills, nearly everything taught can be cross applied to do whatever you want it to do! Sales techniques can definitely help you be a better street hypnotist, and public speaking tricks can most certainly help you be more persuasive in everyday conversations.

When you’re next in a book store, flick through a few books on sales techniques and public speaking, and you’ll probably find a lot of gems.

Tool 3: Conventional (or Unconventional) Wisdom

The biggest mistake people make in the world of self development, is reading about nothing but self development!

To paraphrase Milton Erickson, self development books often have how to be successful in life wrapped up in a nutshell, trouble is “they miss out the nut, and only take the shell!”

Read a biography of someone you admire. Delve into classic works of fiction. Read about history and philosophy. Broaden your horizons and become curious about the entire world! You’ll pick up ideas, tips, stories and principles that will help you tremendously in whatever interaction you find yourself in.

Tool 4: The Big Wide World…

Sorry, I told a lie in the last tool.

The biggest mistake people make in the self development world is NOT only reading about self development… it’s only reading!

My greatest love is travel. I love hopping on a train at night, and waking up in a strange foreign city. You meet new people, and discover weird and wonderful ways of looking at the world.

Make the world your playground, get out there, and start taking action.

Ok, the coffee shops closing, and they’re about to kick me out, so I gotta dash!

Give these four tools some thought, and remember that hypnosis is just the tip of the iceberg… and it’s a very big iceberg!

Catch you soon,
Nathan Thomas

It’s from my first ever Street Hypnosis seminar, which I taught in Auckland, New Zealand, several years ago.

On the video you’ll see a very young me lead one of the students into a quick hypnotic induction, through hypnotic catalepsy and eventually name amnesia.

She had never been hypnotized before (by me), so this is a great chance for you to see hypnotic phenomena built up from scratch.

Name Amnesia and Hypnotic Phenomena Demo:

Pay attention to the language used,  there’s a lot going on behind the scenes.

Notice how I continually used positive reinforcement “that’s right, you’re doing great’ and linked everything together with clear cause – effect patterns, giving an apparent reason for all suggestions “and because you’re a hypnotist, it means that…”

Advanced hypnotic phenomena are actually surprisingly easy to elicit, provided you gain compliance, paint a clear picture in their minds of what you want to accomplish, and speak with authority.

I’ll be teaching this weekend in London at Hypnotic Transformations Live with James Tripp, Rintu Basu and Marcus Oakey, and should have some updates + cool stuff for you soon!

Cheers,
Nathan Thomas

In fact, perhaps one of the biggest reasons why hypnosis is not always accepted by the mainstream as tool for healing and change is that even top hypnotists cannot agree on what hypnosis even is!

In the years that I’ve been teaching hypnosis, I’ve been lucky enough to train and teach with some of the biggest names across the hypnosis spectrum, and it’s remarkable how much disagreement there is.

The extreme direct hypnotists claim that direct suggestion and authoritative commands are the only way to create real change. They accuse the indirect hypnotists of being slow and ineffectual.

The extreme indirect hypnotists claim that implication and metaphor are the only way to effect real change, and that direct hypnosis does not create real transformation.

It really is astonishing how deep the divides run.

Just over 50 years ago, perhaps the two greatest living hypnotists were Milton Erickson, and Dave Elman.

Milton Erickson pioneered indirect (what we now often call Ericksonian) hypnosis, and his work went on to build the foundations for NLP and conversational hypnosis.

Dave Elman brought direct suggestion to the medical field in a big way, and his simple yet powerful techniques are still some of the most popular hypnotic methods in use.

Now you’d think these two giants could work together, or at least enjoy a productive friendship, but stories abound about their often bitter rivalry. One famous tale explains how Erickson, when teaching a hypnosis training program, once threw a student out of his class merely because he learned that the student had once studied with Elman.

Today the same rivalries exist big time. I can name many famous indirect hypnotists who say that direct hypnosis and especially stage hypnosis are out right harmful. I can name equally many direct hypnotists who claim that indirect hypnosis isn’t “real” hypnosis after all (whatever that is), merely an adapted form of psychotherapy.

As a person learning hypnosis, you need to walk the line between learning what style suits your personality the best and allows you to maximize your potential as hypnotist, AND being blinded by the polarized nature of the hypnosis world.

As you study various hypnotists and explore the resources on this blog you’ll encounter a vast range of styles.

As you do, think about which ones FEEL right for you. This is an art, not a science. Try all styles out, and push yourself to get out of your comfort zone and practice with techniques that do not at first seem natural. The more you do this, the more you’ll begin to gain an understanding of your own unique style.

Expose yourself to a range of inputs without prejudice, explore everything you learn, and based on your experience allow your own style to develop naturally.

Keep in mind that some hypnotists will rush to expound on the vices and virtues of various styles, and that they are both right and wrong. Yes, there is a best way of doing hypnosis, but it is NOT objective. The best way for you, may not be the best way for me, or the other people you have learned from. Let yourself choose your style, rather than the “gurus.”

Hypnosis is a rich and wonderful world. Move beyond the labels, the opinions and the egos, learn from as many people as possible, and allow yourself to develop your own way of doing things.

If you want a head start on your hypnosis journey, you can join myself and master hypnosis trainers James Tripp, Rintu Basu and Marcus Oakey in London, on December 10 and 11 this year. Click Here for More Info.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and I’ll catch you again soon,
Cheers,
Nathan Thomas.