It seems that these days many people want to learn hypnosis, maybe they’ve seen Paul McKenna or Derren Brown on TV and think to them selves how cool it would be to be able to easily put people into a deep trance.

The funny thing about hypnosis is that once you first start to learn how to hypnotise people you realise that it doesn’t quite work how most people think it does. And while this is probably one of the most life changing things you can possibly learn about in terms of how you see yourself and the world, it can actually leave you a little confused as to how to actually go about developing this new skill. So in order to get you on your way I’ve compiled my top 5 tips for learning hypnosis.

1. Get a massage.

Somehow I can sense your surprise as you read that line in another time and place from where I’m sitting now. The thing is, communication between two people happens mostly on channels other than that of spoken language.

Most of our communication happens at the level of body language, voice tone and tonality and facial expressions. If you want to hypnotise someone then you have to be able to easily enter a relaxed state. Some people can do this easily but others have been subject to stress for such a long period of their lives that they are unknowingly quite tense, breathe shallowly and might exhibit other signs of stress. Basically they’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel really relaxed and good inside their body.

So when you get the chance, get a really good massage that will leave you feeling like jelly. If done properly you won’t have a tense muscle left in your body and your voice will sound very relaxing. Once you’ve had this done at least once you’ll have an example you can compare yourself to when your next in a situation where you want to lead someone else into a relaxed and comfortable state.

2. Learn to breathe deeply.

This is something I am still working on. For one reason or another I acquired the habit of breathing into my chest (chest goes up and down as you breathe) as opposed to breathing into my belly (belly goes in and out). Not only does this mean I have to breathe in and out more often to get the oxygen I need, it also causes my body to tense up and makes the pitch of my voice higher. Whenever I remember to I focus on breathing deep into my belly. This also doubles as a good mindfulness exercise.

A hypnotists voice is his or her most important tool and it is one that can be improved to help you become a better hypnotist.

3. Choose a particular time and place to practise your hypnosis skills.

Most people think that since they are meeting people in every aspect of their life they will remember to use their hypnosis skills whenever they speak to someone. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case. That’s why it’s better to think of a time or place where you can practise. Maybe it’s when you have to make sales calls at work or when you are the bar on a Friday night. Pick a time or place and you’ll soon be reminded to use your skills and ensure lots of practise.

4. Focus on one skill or technique at a time.

Often when people learn a lot of new information they can become overwhelmed. For example, maybe you’ve just received a new hypnosis course, listened to all 18 hours of audio and read the 600 page e-book, you can’t wait to get started. But somehow when a practise situation arises you don’t know which technique to use as your spoilt for choice. You end up not doing anything. Or you try to use every technique you read about at the same time without having mastered them individually.

It comes down to wanting to improve quickly yet not realising that if you take things slowly you’ll improve a lot faster than you think. So pick just one thing that you’ll focus on, you’ll instinctively know when it’s time to move on.

5. Use hypnosis to learn hypnosis.

If your going to learn something that helps people improve their ability to do just about anything in life then you might as well use it to learn hypnosis as efficiently as possible.

So listen to good hypnotists as often as you can, whether in person or on an audio recording. Sometimes, allow yourself to go into trance, other times stay ‘awake’ and listen to what the hypnotist is doing.

If you can, record your own hypnosis inductions where you hypnotise yourself into being a great hypnotist. Some the best courses out there are actually designed this way.

If you implement the above tips you’ll be well on your way to learning hypnosis. Pick one of the five and focus on it for a couple of weeks. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you progress.