Review of “Body Language – How To Read Others’ Thoughts By Their Gestures” By Allan Pease

Review of “Body Language – How To Read Others' Thoughts By Their Gestures” By Allan PeaseThis book contains almost everything you need to know about body language. Learning about body language is very useful for any budding hypnotherapist. In order to provide good hypnotherapy, the ability to quickly gain trust and rapport is essential, and a good understanding of body language can really facilitate this. Learning about body language is also a great help for people in sales and business, in fact it is good for people who ever deal with people, which let’s face it is most of us.

The effective use and understanding of body language can help us succeed in most areas of life. It can help us to gain a partner, get that promotion or new job, establish a business deal, and gain more friends. An ability to use body language to our advantage can massively improve the quality of our lives.

This book is so clear and well written that it is difficult to criticize it in any way. Apparently Allan Pease did 10 years of research before writing this book. Although there were many studies on body language at the time of writing this book, they were quite academic, complicated, and inaccessible for many. Allan takes this potentially complicated subject area, and turns it into something clear and easy to digest.

Refreshingly he does not claim that these methods are 100% watertight. He acknowledges that things such as context should be taken into account. For example a person with legs and arms crossed might be disinterested or negative, or they might simply be cold.

There is also a part I found particularly interesting where Allan compares the body language of people of different ages. When telling a lie, a 5 year old child may cover their mouth with both hands. A teenager might more subtly rub around their mouths. An older adult may just briefly touch their mouth or nose. Generally the older and more sophisticated a person is, the more subtle their body language becomes.

Another interesting rule I learned from this book is that where a persons’ feet are pointing is very important. If for example you are talking to someone and there feet are pointing to the exit, then they probably want to leave the room. Also if a person of the opposite sex is talking to a friend but their feet are pointing towards you, then it could be that they are interested in you romantically.

This book has many interesting chapters that you might expect, such as eye signals and courtship gestures. It also contains a very interesting chapter on desk, tables and seating arrangements. For example facing each other directly at the opposite sites of a desk can be quite intimidating and threatening. Sitting round a corner from each other allows limited eye contact – enough to be friendly, but not too much as to be threatening.

There is also a chapter on ‘Power Plays’ that takes unusual things such as chair height into consideration. A chair with a very high back is symbolic of power and status, which is probably why Kings and Queens thrones have been built like this for hundreds of years.

The final chapter ‘Putting It All Together’ does just that. It provides several illustrations of scenes involving two or more people. It then talks about what is going on in these people’s minds based on most of the techniques described in the book. This is great for learning to apply the information, and helping it to stick in your mind. It can also help jog your memory of real social situations you might have experienced in the past, and how people reacted.

This book contains no superfluous waffle. It is concise and to the point, and the text is also broken up by a lot of illustrations that are black line drawings. This makes digesting the information a lot easier than it could be. Quite simply it is a joy to read as you learn useful information so easily. I may be being a bit picky by saying that the illustrations might be better if they were photographs of real people instead of line drawings. However the line drawings are good enough to illustrate the points being made.

So in summary, if you want to learn more about body language then I strongly recommend this book. It takes you well beyond the basics, and provides a firm foundation for you to continue studying by observing people in every day situations. It is quite simple to follow, and contains very little ‘fluff’ that wastes your time.

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Review of “Scripts And Strategies In Hypnotherapy” by Roger P. Allen

Review Of Scripts And Strategies In Hypnotherapy

Review Of Scripts And Strategies In Hypnotherapy…

I bought “Scripts And Strategies In Hypnotherapy” by Roger Allen many years ago while I was training to be a clinical hypnotherapist at the London College Of Clinical Hypnotherapy. It was recommended to our class by one of our teachers, Peter Mabbutt, who I noticed contributed a small testimonial/review on the back of the book. He basically said, and I agree, that this book is a useful addition for newly qualified hypnotherapists, and a source of inspiration for the more experienced.

This book is actually two books (volumes I and II) combined into one super script book, and is in a nice durable hard back format. It is well divided into sub categories to make what you are looking for very easy to find. It starts with inductions and deepeners, before delving into various different therapies. What sets this script book aside from most others is that it also includes a section ‘Therapy Strategies’, which shows various techniques such as ideomotor responses (I.M.R.’s), and parts therapy.

A little oversight I spotted in the introduction of the I.M.R. section was that Roger Allen stated that I.M.R.’s are used as it is widely believed that asking a client to talk during a session can ‘interfere with the depth of the trance’. Whilst this may be true, I.M.R.’s are far more useful than this. They allow a hypnotherapist a great opportunity to engage in a dialogue directly with the subconscious mind. This can be useful in many instances, especially asking it to make a change. I.M.R.’s are also a good tool to convince skeptics that hypnotherapy does indeed work, as they experience something very real happening. I.M.R.’s are also useful for communicating with people who have difficulty verbalizing their problems, and can even be used for “secret therapy” when a client does not wish to divulge their problems with the therapist.

In the parts therapy section, although it is described accurately how to use this technique, it doesn’t say when and why you would use it. Parts therapy is basically about resolving inner conflict. We have many roles in life, and it is almost like out subconscious has several personalities. A good clue when a client needs parts therapy is when they say something like, “A part of me wants to lose weight, but another part always sabotages my efforts.” Parts therapy aims to resolve this inner conflict of the different goals and aims in the different parts of our lives.

So although this book describes many techniques accurately and well, it sometimes fails to explain the context in which they would be used. Someone who had never met these techniques before could be left a little confused unless they did some additional research.

There is a really good script of sorts called “Weight – What I Tell ‘Em”. It is a condensed version of talks Roger does regarding weight loss. His reason for including it is to help you as the therapist to be able to talk about the subject of weight loss with some authority. If you ever were asked to do a talk on weight loss, or even if a client asked you about it, then it would be a good starting point to read this and then adapting it to suit your own style. You can also use this to gain inspiration about what to say and how to approach talking about other subjects within hypnotherapy.

There is also a short section that contains 3 ‘metaphors’ which are basically short therapeutic stories. The beauty of story telling is that you can talk about a fictional character, rather than the subject. This can help prevent their ego from blocking what is being said – after all it is not them you are talking about, just a fictional ‘character’!

This book also goes a little beyond the scope of hypnotherapy as it also includes 3 N.L.P techniques. These are the ‘Swish technique’ (for weight control), six step reframe, and anchoring.

Regardless of this good additional material, the main reason for buying this book is the collection of scripts that it contains. As well as the more staple therapies, such as weight loss, confidence, and smoking, it also contains some more unusual therapies, such as ‘Past Life Recall’, ‘Sports Performance’ and ‘Pass Your Driving test’.

The scripts are generally well written and they will provide a very useful addition to your therapeutic ‘toolbox’. If you don’t wish to use scripts verbatim, then at least you can look at Roger’s therapeutic strategies to get ideas for your own approaches. It’s always good to see how others approach their therapy. You can never stop learning. Roger also makes the good point that hypnosis scripts have “the added value of being carefully thought through with particular attention to semantics in order to exclude negative suggestion.” (Pg. 108)

One small problem I noticed was that sometimes Roger advises counting forward 1-2-3-4-5 to deepen the trance, and sometimes counting backwards 5-4-3-2-1. Some of his examples also show counting forward to reorient the client, and sometimes counting backward. It is better to choose one direction for deepening, and the opposite for reorienting. This avoids the potential for confusing the subject.

There is a very comprehensive section on smoking cessation, which is one of the most common treatments a hypnotherapist is asked for. As well as several different scripts and methods, there is also a questionnaire and ‘client education’. There is just about everything you need on smoking cessation.

I was slightly concerned that the book contains a script for ‘Sexual Assault’. Personally I do not treat patients for such matters as I firmly believe that such matters are best dealt with by specifically qualified medical professionals, councilors etc. I was also a little surprised that there was not at least some sort of warning to use this script with care.

In his scripts, Roger often uses a few methods to achieve the aim, which I am a big fan of doing in my own scripts. For instance in his ‘Confidence Building’ script, he starts off with quite direct suggestions, talking about not needing perfection in life, and illustrating that nothing and no one is perfect. In my experience people worrying about being perfect is one of the leading causes of a lack of confidence. Later in the script he guides the subject back to a time when they felt really confident. He then asks the subject to visualize these growing feelings of confidence as a white light encompasses them, growing and expanding. Using these two quite different approaches should greatly increase the chances of therapeutic success.

Most of the scripts in this book are relatively simple in nature. This is by no means a criticism. I firmly believe that over complicated therapy can just confuse the mind, not knowing what the aim of the session is. Throwing 20 different therapeutic methods into a script is no good in my eyes. I usually stick to 2 or 3 different approaches, and I also try to blend them together in some way so that they support and strengthen each other. Roger appears to have a similar approach to this. Perhaps without knowing it, maybe Roger’s scripts have influenced my own script writing style more than I realise, since I have owned this book since 2004.

I would have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending this book to any hypnotherapist, whether beginning or more advanced. There is something for everyone here. It is not really a book you read from cover to cover – at least I didn’t anyway. It’s more a book that you can dip into as and when needed, or one where you can flick through every now and then out of interest. If you are learning hypnotherapy, or newly qualified, then I would say that this is an essential buy to help you develop into a more experienced and knowledgeable hypnotherapist. There is just so much information. More experienced hypnotherapists perhaps wouldn’t get quite as much out of this book, but I believe it is still very useful, even if for inspiration for different therapeutic approaches. As a therapist you can sometimes get a little stuck in a rut using the same tired methods without trying anything new to you.

That is my Review Of Scripts And Strategies In Hypnotherapy. There’s so much in this book that I can only realistically comment on a small part of it. To summarize though I would say that this book is highly recommended (maybe even essential) for the training or newly qualified hypnotherapist, and recommended for the more experienced therapists.

Book Reviews

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

Ask The Hypnotherapist #1

What made you decide that you wanted to become a hypnotherapist?

As a boy I just found the whole concept of it really fascinating – I think it was the whole mystery of it all that gripped me then. I used to watch Paul McKenna seemingly ‘take control’ of his participants on TV, and thought it as quite cool! However later in life I became involved with rehabilitating people suffering from various mental health problems. I became more interested in the therapeutic side of hypnotherapy, and enrolled on a clinical hypnotherapy course at the London College Of Clinical Hypnotherapy. I fell in love with it and have continued to study ever since.

Clinical Hypnotherapist Jon Rhodes
Clinical Hypnotherapist
Jon Rhodes

I have a question about if hypnotherapy can help me with severe pain. I have had to take morphine and now I am on Methadone for severe lower back pain that no operation can help. Could hypnotherapy ever help me enough with this pain so that I can stop taking this strong medication?

Hypnotherapy can definitely help reduce pain. After all pain is simply a sensation created by the brain in order to protect us. Without pain we would be more likely to do things which would cause us more damage. There are many stories in the media about people going through operations without anaesthetic due to their use of hypnotherapy. What often happens in cases like yours is that hypnotherapy reduces, but not eliminates the pain, allowing you to reduce your intake of pain killers. This is a good healthy result as far as I’m concerned. I think that without some sort of pain sensations, we could be tempted to push our bodies too much, causing more damage in the long term.

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I am a big fan of athletics and I often notice that just before they begin their discipline (sprinting, long jump, etc) they close their eyes. Are they performing self-hypnosis? If so what exactly are they thinking?

Usually people have difficulty during any type of performance when they consciously think too much. The unconscious mind is far more powerful than the conscious part of the mind. It is likely that most are clearing their mind of all thoughts, which by definition is actually meditation. With their mind free of distracting thoughts, they can “just do it” and perform what they have practised for many years without letting the occasion get to them.

When I help people with sports performance, I often give them a trigger word, a post hypnotic suggestion. When they say this word to themselves, they will return to a relaxed state with a clear mind. I give them suggestions of focussing on what they are doing, and not thinking of themselves or what is going on around them. This is where hypnosis differs from meditation – hypnosis aims to add some sort of suggestion to the mind, whereas meditation generally aims to clear the mind of all conscious thoughts.

If I fall asleep during one of your hypnosis sessions will it still have the required effect on me?

Yes! When you initially fall asleep, you usually start in a light sleep, and it is a very effective state of mind to absorb hypnotic suggestions. I would not, however recommend putting your recordings on a loop whilst you sleep. There is no evidence that hypnotic suggestions are absorbed in a deep sleep state, and the sounds could disrupt you.

Can hypnotherapy work with children around the age of 10?

Hypnotherapy can work with children around the age of 10, however it usually has to be done in a different way. Children have such good imaginations, that it is not always necessary to insist that they close their eyes. They may not be willing or able to do this for long periods of time anyway. You must also talk to them in a way that they understand. It is no use talking to them with words that they do not understand. I find that using metaphors and creating a therapeutic story is a very effective way of working with children.

 

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Ask The Hypnotherapist #2

I have paruresis (shy bladder) which is an anxiety disorder which leaves me unable to use public restrooms or go to the toilet if I know there is anyone else around. Could hypnotherapy help me overcome this?

Clinical Hypnotherapist Jon Rhodes
Clinical Hypnotherapist
Jon Rhodes

Hypnotherapy is very relaxing and is good at reducing anxiety, so yes it can help with this. What I often do with this type of problem is give a post hypnotic suggestion so that when you say a particular keyword to yourself, you feel calm and relaxed. You can then use this if you are feeling anxious in a public restroom. In fact you can use this to your advantage in many other situations. The Super Relaxation audio session on this site gives this type of therapy.

Why do you think that some people aren’t willing to try hypnotherapy and/or don’t take hypnosis seriously?

I think the main reason is fear. The first time I tried hypnotherapy, I must admit I was a bit fearful. I was worried about being ‘under’ someone else’s control. Hypnosis is often depicted as sinister and controlling in movies and in the press. However having experienced hypnosis for many years as both a patient and a therapist, I know that the reality is very different.

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Is there anything I can do to help make the process of hypnotherapy more effective while listening to one of your hypnosis downloads?

Listening to the sessions with headphones helps, although it is not necessary if you prefer not to. The most important thing is that you are comfortable. This can mean different things for different people. Some people prefer to lie down, whereas some prefer to site up in a chair. I think it is also important that you know that you will not be disturbed during the session. Even if you are not disturbed, the worry of it happening can be off putting.

Should I consult my doctor before undertaking hypnotherapy?

If you have any serious health problems, then I would say yes. Otherwise it is generally not necessary as hypnosis is a relatively safe form of therapy. I would like to add that it would be worth consulting your doctor if you were having headaches or other pains, in order to eliminate more serious problems.

Are there any differences between meditation and hypnosis, and if so what are they?

Meditation and hypnosis do cross over. The main difference between the two is that hypnosis aims to add something to the mind, like a suggestion, whereas meditation usually aims to clear the mind. However hypnotherapy often borrows meditation techniques in order to ‘quieten’ the mind, before then adding suggestions.

Recently I’ve noticed that I can’t get to sleep unless my bedroom is tidy and straight. For example if I’m lying in bed and see that I have a drawer slightly open I have to get up and close it. Is this something hypnotherapy could stop me doing?

This is basically a form of obsessive compulsive disorder, and can be helped with hypnosis. That gives me an idea for a future session – watch this space!

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