I am in Brighton with Richard Bandler learning about Neuro-Hypnotic Repatterning right now. Just a few hours ago, I was certified as a “Specialist Practitioner in Neuro Hypnotic Repatterning”. While NLP is focused on improving our thinking, NHR is focused on using changing your neurochemistry, and is Richard Bandler’s latest development. It’s been a pretty intense week already – and there are another three days to go!

So the session next week will be focused on sharing what I’ve picked up while I’ve been here.

I’m only after a small group, so if you want to come along and join us for a spell let me know so I can send you the details.

7pm Wednesday, 17 November – NHR Hypnosis with Daniel Smith

“How would a chicken act?”

What followed was a hilarious few moments when the participant on the public speaking workshop that I was leading stood up on a table, flapped his arms and started clucking loudly like a chicken. The room was silent for a few moments when the others understood what had just happened – and nobody challenged me on hypnosis again!

That was late 1999… in a public speaking course – long before I was teaching NLP formally.

At the moment, I’m in Brighton for NHR training. Yesterday, I enjoyed an entertaining morning with Richard Bandler overloading us with stories, demonstrations and exercises, and an afternoon with John La Valle. During that afternoon, John La Valle mentioned that someone had once asked Richard how they could hypnotise someone to act like a chicken, to which Richard responded with “how would you act like a chicken?”

But hang on just a minute: That’s my story!!!

I have often told the story of when I did that, though now I’m wondering how Richard Bandler and I had almost precisely the same experience and offered almost precisely the same response to get a near-identical outcome. And a very cool outcome at that

I was pretty sure that I’d just come up with that response on the spot, though I had trained with John La Valle in Design Human Engineering two years prior, so maybe he’d told the story then, and I’d just responded accordingly. It’s possible. Though as I recall no such connection being made at the time or at any stage in the intervening decade, I doubt that I had conscious recollection… and I don’t know whether it would be more amazing that I had unconsciously yet precisely replicated something I had hear about in a story in May 1997 two-and-a-half-years later, or whether I had just created the same response from a similar situation since I had studied quite a bit of Richard Bandler by the time. Either way, I had to chuckle

Michelle has a beautiful presence as a speaker and has shared with many of us from her heart some of her remarkable experiences. We love having her in Shanghai, and I’m pleased to let you know that as her public session is fully booked, she will be leading a session specifically for China NLP.

The venue has a limited size, so please let us know you’re coming.

For the session, bring along a wish or an intention about something you would like to clear or release… something that you will be willing to share with and work on in the group.

And thanks again for Gabor Nagy and Chris Malone for their sessions in the past few weeks!

Coming up in the next few weeks are likely to be sessions with Marga and Marc, followup sessions with both Gabor and Chris, and I’ll probably look to do one more session before I head off, probably next Monday or Tuesday night…

Have a great week – and get along for Michelle’s session this Friday night!

We are after just a small group of people who are interested in exploring and experiencing hypnosis. This will not be about ‘self hypnosis’, ‘conversational hypnosis’, sleight of mouth, or building your ability to influence others. There will be no timeline or futurepacing: instead, we will be specifically focused on inducing states of trance as might be done in a stage hypnosis performance.

Shanghai – 14 October – from 7pm

We’re fully booked for this session – thanks!

Next session: 20 October with Gabor Nagy on the Metaprograms of FiTIn.

Tuesday night: Christopher Malone on Hypnosis
From 7pm, at the REV office.

And Joanna Hsu on What’s Your Genius, from 7pm Thursday and Friday nights in Chinese and English.

Christopher is a skilled – though not professional – hypnotist, and I’m looking forward to another great style of presentation. There’s no charge for this event though places are strictly limited – we have space for about 12 – so please register early.

For this event, we will be in the office of REV, Unit 15B, Ladoll International Hotel, 831 Xinzha Lu at Shimen Er Lu. You can walk there easily from Nanjing West subway station on Line 2.

Christopher will share with us his experiences and insights gained through his exploration of this interesting subject. He has lived and worked in seven countries pursuing a career in international banking. Along the way, Christopher has picked up an economics degree and an MBA from UCLA, and currently teaches economics and accounting at a university here in Shanghai in between tutoring and some corporate training. Christopher is a published novelist, is on the verge of publishing a collection of short stories, and loves cooking and cross-country skiing.

Conversational Hypnosis – Shanghai

Saturday 1 August from 2pm – RSVP essential – 100RMB

Hypnosis has been part of NLP since it began with the modelling of Milton Erickson… The man credited with bringing hypnosis out of the dark ages (of stage mesmerism) did much of his work within the context of an ordinary conversation.

Just the other night, I was playing pool with my brother. And he’s very good! One of the things that I noticed was that when I was in ‘the zone’, things flowed and I would beat him without really trying. But when I was out of ‘the zone’, I couldn’t do anything right. And noticing this reminded me how important it is to be in the appropriate state for what you are doing – having good technique is important, but you gotta be in the right state for the context!

(That’s an example how you can use a metaphor from ‘normal’ life to communicate a message – just one part of Conversational Hypnosis…)

I have been exploring Conversational Hypnosis for years in a variety of contexts (in coaching, in negotiations, in marketing and especially in intimate relationships!) in Personal Transformation events that I’ve been delivering, so I figured it would be a great chance to share this with our friends in China NLP.

The venue will be somewhere central; I’ll let you know if you’re coming.

Hypnosis is a different experience for everybody, and we greatly appreciated the 25 or so of you who contributed your thoughts and insights.

Coming up: Emmanuel Mercado on Suggestion and something special from John Lee, both after the National Holiday.

We know of a few trainings coming up towards the end of the year – Jeff Tan’s looking to run another NLP Practitioner and possibly a Master Practitioner, Robert Dilts is coming to China for six-days with a training on Genius, and a few other things are on. If you have something special coming up, do let us know.

Hypnosis and hypnotic language patterns have been a part of NLP’s core since Bandler and Grinder modeled Milton Erickson, most obviously yielding the well-known Milton Model (and its antidote, the Meta Model) but having a far more pervasive impact than this might even imply.

Elsie will share her insights and experiences with a select group, covering topics including:

• What is hypnosis
• What is the “unconscious mind”
• Some application of hypnosis
• The process of hypnosis
• A group hypnosis experience where audience members may choose to experience deep trance and wonderful relaxation
• Some basics of self hypnosis

We are capping attendance numbers to ensure that this session remains intimate, so please register your place early.

Looking forward to seeing you there!