This article is a transcript of the following video:
So I got a question in from a former student in San Diego. Hi. The question was, what’s the difference between NLP and hypnosis. I actually think that the difference is quite big but it depends on the definition. Now, unfortunately, hypnosis doesn’t really have a good definition that I’ve ever seen, nor does NLP because both are something that you need to do and experience. Also there are many different schools of hypnosis out there so the answer may even differ based on that.
So I think that there is a difference between NLP and hypnosis. To me it’s like comparing an apple to a flower. They have certain things in common and most things they kind of do not, though they do grow in the same place. They can have very similar outcomes, stop doing something and start doing something else. They also are about personal change and becoming a better person and maybe healing something that you’ve been doing for a long time or have been struggling with. So that’s a commonality.
So I think that there is a difference between NLP and hypnosis. To me it’s like comparing an apple to a flower. They have certain things in common and most things they kind of do not, though they do grow in the same place. They can have very similar outcomes, stop doing something and start doing something else. They also are about personal change and becoming a better person and maybe healing something that you’ve been doing for a long time or have been struggling with. So that’s a commonality.
So I think that there is a difference between NLP and hypnosis. To me it’s like comparing an apple to a flower. They have certain things in common and most things they kind of do not, though they do grow in the same place. They can have very similar outcomes, stop doing something and start doing something else. They also are about personal change and becoming a better person and maybe healing something that you’ve been doing for a long time or have been struggling with. So that’s a commonality.
So I think that there is a difference between NLP and hypnosis. To me it’s like comparing an apple to a flower. They have certain things in common and most things they kind of do not, though they do grow in the same place. They can have very similar outcomes, stop doing something and start doing something else. They also are about personal change and becoming a better person and maybe healing something that you’ve been doing for a long time or have been struggling with. So that’s a commonality.
Now there are two language patterns I said, because one language pattern is not known in hypnosis at all because it actually does the opposite of hypnosis. That’s called the meta model. In fact what you want to achieve here is a hyperconscious state of awareness, very very alert. So you can for instance find out what specifically is really the problem or what is unconscious to you to make that really conscious so you can do something about it. You know what specifically the problem is.
You probably experienced this a lot. For instance you’ve been doing something for a while or repeating something for a while and you just go on autopilot and suddenly bam, you get an epiphany. It shoots in your conscious awareness actually what you have been doing. Well, we have a language pattern in NLP that actually facilitates that process to get that clarity in. And then we do the techniques that work also on an unconscious level and with the conscious participation like I said. That’s how we get the client from A to B so to speak.
Now what’s better, NLP or hypnosis? Well, I think that the answer to that question is really simple. It depends on the quality and the experience of the hypnotist versus the NLP practitioner, the quality of their training and the quality of their trainer even. And so I also think that talent is involved. Are you able to build rapport with the client or not? That’s a big thing. Also what’s better, NLP or hypnosis, is in how willing is the client willing and understanding to actually give the hypnotist or the NLP practitioner information to work with them. In fact I want my clients to do the work. I will show them the techniques. I will teach them how to use their brain properly, but they are in the end the ones that really need to do it.
Now I think it’s very very beneficial for an NLP practitioner to be well-versed in both language patterns and that includes the language pattern that works on that unconscious level. I also think that the best hypnotists and I’ve trained many of them all over the world, even some master trainers in hypnosis, is that they said I want to come to your training because I can do an amazing induction, I can also count out obviously, but I’d really like to know that between the induction and the count out, I want to have more powerful tools. And that’s why they go into NLP training because NLP fits wonderfully as a wonderful tool for a hypnotist to use after the induction, it makes things more powerful.
I think in the end the most talented people that I know that can work on changes on a conscious as well as unconscious level are people that master one of these tools and also have taken training in different kinds of modalities, whether that being a certain type of psychology, NLP, hypnosis, some mother coaching methodology out there, the more mastery you have in your toolbox, the more things that you have to pick from, the more custom work you can actually give to your client. I also trained many psychologists from all over the world, and one moment they are applying NLP and the other moment they want to go back to the things that they learned when they learned how to be a psychologist. So the combination of both gives a way better session, so to speak.
So I hope that answers that question and if you have more questions just let me know. See you.
