In this section of HypnoBusters you will find reviews on books regarding hypnosis, hypnotherapy and self-improvement.
Each review is written by our clinical hypnotherapist Jon Rhodes DHyp who will give his honest opinion on everything he reviews and help you to decide whether the book is worth reading or not.
If you would like to send Jon a book to review please contact us at the email address at the top of the page and we will send you a mailing address.
Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy by Roger P. Allen
Body Language – How To Read Others’ Thoughts By Their Gestures by Allan Pease
Defeat distractions, improve your sleep, and more…
Do you get distracted by other people’s noise? Perhaps you work in a noisy environment where you need to concentrate. People’s constant chattering, coughing and tapping on keyboards can be off-putting. Maybe you do work at home where you can’t expect silence. TV’s and stereos blasting away, rumblings of feet, and talking and shouting.
Colored noises are great for masking noises, creating a relaxing environment for work and study. That’s not all they can do…
Colored noise can help you with…
– Drowning out distraction. – Deep sleep. – Soothing crying babies. – Masking tinnitus. – Concentration and learning. – Enhances meditation and self-hypnosis. – Eases stress, headaches, and migraines.
I have created three colored noise MP3s, each with its own specific benefits. Each session is 60 minutes long and perfect for playing in the background whilst doing other things. You could be drifting off to sleep, studying for exams, at work, meditating, being creative.
Here’s a little about what each colored noise can do for you…
WHITE NOISE MP3
White noise is created when a sound is produced which uses all audible frequencies played at once. White noise is perfect for blocking out sounds that distract you. This is great if you need to concentrate, but is also good for relaxation.
PINK NOISE MP3
Pink noise blends high and low frequencies to create a smooth effect like the sound of rushing water. It sounds less “busy” than white noise because it contains fewer frequencies. Pink noise is great for creating a relaxing environment whilst allowing you to maintain focus and energy.
BROWN NOISE MP3
Brown noise uses lower frequencies and deeper sounds. This rumbling quality makes it ideal for deep sleeping, easing headaches, calming down young children and masking tinnitus.
Please click bellow for the session you feel will benefit you most. Or purchase all 3 for a discounted price…
Improve your life and reprogramme your subconscious mind with my FREE hypnosis video collection, from HypnoBusters. These sessions normally sell for between $10-$25.
If you like my free hypnosis videos, please share this page with your friends, and let them benefit from the awesome power of hypnotherapy!
This is my most popular video – over 700,000 YouTube views. This largely uses a hypnosis and meditation technique called progressive relaxation. It’s where you focus on a particular body part and relax it, before moving on to the next. Many people have reported that it has helped with anxiety, sleep, and a whole host of issues. Sit back, relax, and enjoy…
Be happy hypnosis video
Happiness is largely a state of mind. You can choose to be happy, regardless of your personal circumstances. Similarly you can choose to be unhappy even if you have very favourable personal circumstances. This hypnosis video helps you achieve a happy mindset…
This video does what it says on the tin. Great for helping most things, like studying,learning new skills, at work, business etc…
Confidence with people hypnosis video
If you lack confidence around people, then this is for you…
Increased motivation hypnosis video
Most of us at times could do with a boost in motivation at times. This is because we are designed not to waste energy unnecessarily. Often our subconscious minds don’t think it’s necessary to study, exercise, clean out the cupboards etc…
Milton Erickson was a psychiatrist and clinical hypnotherapist, who was the founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. He is noted for his unorthodox methods of therapy, and his influence in the field of psychiatry, psychology, NLP and hypnotherapy. He deserves special mention here not only for his influence in many fields, but also for the way he fought against his own adversities.
At a young age, Erickson both dyslexic and color blind, started following in his fathers footsteps of becoming a farmer. However at the age of 17 he became very ill when he contracted polio.
“I had polio, and I was totally paralyzed, and the inflammation was so great that I had a sensory paralysis too. I could move my eyes and my hearing was undisturbed. I got very lonesome lying in bed, unable to move anything except my eyeballs. I was quarantined on the farm with seven sisters, one brother, two parents, and a practical nurse. And how could I entertain myself? I started watching people and my environment. I soon learned that my sisters could say “no” when they meant “yes.” And they could say “yes” and mean “no” at the same time. They could offer another sister an apple and hold it back. And I began studying nonverbal language and body language. I had a baby sister who had begun to learn to creep. I would have to learn to stand up and walk. And you can imagine the intensity with which I watched as my baby sister grew from creeping to learning how to stand up.”
Erickson was not beaten. He decided to fight back…
One day he was sitting by the window, looking longingly outside. As he sat there imagining being outside he noticed the chair began to rock slightly. Excited he attempted to make it happen again, willing himself to move, but he could not no matter how hard he tried. Eventually he gave up and sank back into his daydreams, again imagining playing outside. Once more the chair began to rock.
He realised that it was his vivid imagination that was producing a response in his body. Inspired by this discovery, he taught himself to walk again
He spent a lot of time observing his baby sister growing up and learning to walk. He began to recall “body memories” of the muscular activity of his own body. By concentrating on these memories and using visualisation, Erickson started to regain control of parts of his body. Eventually, although still unable to walk, he decided to train his body even more by embarking on a thousand mile canoe trip. After this gruelling trip, he was able to walk with a cane.
Training as a Doctor
Despite this, Erickson realised that he still did not have the strength to become a farmer, so at the age of 21 he began to train as a doctor instead. Whilst at medical school, Erickson was still very interested in the human mind. In fact he was so curious about it that he gained a psychology degree at the same time.
Unorthodox therapy
In the years that followed, Erickson used his education and background to become one of the most influential psychotherapists and clinical hypnotherapists ever. He had a very practical approach to his therapy sessions, often telling stories, using metaphors, and whole array of unorthodox therapeutic methods should the situation demand it.
He once spent 4 sessions talking to a young boy who was interested in baseball, about such things as how you need to control the muscles in your hand to let go at just the right time in order for you to be able to throw the ball where you want it to go. Despite never specifically talking about his presenting problem, Erickson successfully treated the boy for bed wetting.
In another case he treated a married man of his fear of being in moving elevators by persuading a young girl to repeatedly ask him for a kiss whilst they were inside. The man was no longer afraid of travelling in lifts, in fact he wanted the lift to start moving quicker so that he could get to his destination and get away from her!
Later in life
Later in life Erickson developed post-polio syndrome due to the over use of partially paralysed muscles. This condition again left him severely paralysed, but because of his previous experience, he knew how to rehabilitate himself. However because he was much older this time, he was still confined to a wheelchair, and suffered from chronic pain. Instead of lying down, he learnt how to manage his pain with self hypnosis, and became an expert at treating others who also suffered from chronic pain.
Erickson eventually died at the ripe old age of 79. When considering all the health problems that he was presented with throughout his life, this was a feat in itself, never mind all the amazing therapy he gave to others. He was also a prolific writer, and has influenced, and still influences many therapists to this day.
Final thoughts
Milton Erickson’s life and work have been a source of inspiration for many therapists and patients in many disciplines. He turned around his disadvantages, learnt from them, and used them to help others. When most people would have given up, Erickson kept going and achieved so much. A true inspiration and a real illustration that almost anything is possible with hard work, determination and a vivid imagination.
If you are interested in the psychology of success then Muhammad Ali is well worth studying.
As well as being a clinical hypnotherapist and musician, I’m also a boxing fan.
To be a good boxer you must be strong, fast, fit, brave, and have a tough mentality. Any weakness is exploited. You need many positive attributes to be competitive. And they all begin with your mind.
When I was a teenager I bought mountains of boxing videos to watch old fight footage. I stumbled upon Muhammad Ali, who I’d never seen before. I enjoyed watching this brash young fighter who was as quick with his mouth as he was with his hands. A fighter who could talk a great fight, but importantly could back it up with his fists. I loved his style, both in and out of the ring, and became a fan, buying more archive videos of him.
Self Hypnosis
I didn’t realise at the time, but Muhammad Ali was great at self hypnosis. He used many positive affirmations towards himself, and negative ones towards his opponents. He particularly boasted about being ‘the greatest’, would often correctly predict what round he would win a fight in, and would always look to gain a psychological advantage.
He even devised metaphors about himself such as “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” and “I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.” These colourful quotes are easily absorbed by an opponents unconscious mind, causing them to over estimate how good Ali was. He could make them doubt themselves before stepping into the ring.
Ali fully understood the importance of positive self affirmations. He once commented that “At home I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.”
“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
Grab The Bull By The Horns
When Ali first challenged for the world title at the young age of 22, he was up against the mighty Charles ‘Sonny’ Liston. With an immensely powerful punch, Liston was regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights in boxing history. Although Ali boasted an impressive unbeaten record, no one realistically gave him a chance.
Instead of freezing like a rabbit like many of Liston’s previous opponents, the young Ali confronted Liston at the weigh in before the fight. He acted like a crazy man, calling Liston ‘an ugly bear’. He even arranged with his assistant trainer Drew Bundini Brown to ‘hold him back’ and pretended he wanted to fight there and then.
Although Liston was a fearless warrior, he had never encountered anyone ‘crazy’ before. He didn’t know what to make of this young fighter. This was new to him, and unsettled him before the fight. Needless to say, against all expectations there was a new champion at the end of the fight.
Psychological Tactics
A regular tactic of Ali was to insult and wind up his opponents before, and sometimes during a fight. This made them angry and tense, which wasted their energy, and made them forget their fight strategy.
Ali did this throughout his long boxing career. Even as a 12 years old amateur, Ali would poke his head inside his opponent’s locker room asking, ‘Which one of you is the guy I’m beating up tonight?’
According to Lynne McTaggart in her book “The Intention Experiment”, Muhammad Ali would often rehearse his fights in his head as if they were real. Before one of his fights with Joe Frazier he imagined “the fatigue in his legs, the sweat pouring off his body, the pain in his kidneys and bruises on his face, the flash of photographers, the exultant screams of the crowd, even the moment when the referee lifts his arm in victory…” This classic technique of visualising success is used often in hypnosis. If you want to be a great football player, then visualize yourself excelling at the highest level.
Ali would say himself that “Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision.”
This tally’s with what Napoleon Hill taught, and can be used for success in any venture. Find out exactly what you want (in Ali’s case it was to be the greatest boxer ever), and spend your energy focusing on that positive thing that you want. If Ali kept talking about not wanting to be the worst boxer, it wouldn’t have inspired him at all.
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
Ali refused to lie down, in every sense. He was known to have a chin made of stone, and took shots off some of the hardest punches to ever grace the sport. Ali, later in his career, encouraged the hard hitting young George Foreman to repeatedly punch him in order to tire him out. Ali the older of the two men won by shear desire and determination. He was not as young or big and strong as the champion Foreman, but he found a way to win. He convinced himself through repetition that he was the greatest, so his mind and body refused to give in, and he found a way to succeed.
Out of the ring Ali was equally as determined. He refused to fight in the Vietnam war because he didn’t believe it was right. He went to prison for a short time, and was not allowed to box for 4 years. He made up his mind and stood by his decision firmly, regardless of the consequences.
Final Thoughts
This strength of mind is what helped bring Muhammad Ali success both as a boxer and a human being. Ali seemed more aware than most that he must use his mind in a certain way if he was to be a success. He literally thought his way to success using various hypnotic and psychological techniques that he intuitively knew.
Ali talked the talk, but he also walked the walk. His repeated use of positive affirmations and visualisation helped him achieve ‘greatness’, and inspire millions around the world. And he continues to inspire millions to this very day.
Ali shows that you CAN think your way to success. You just need the right mindset…
