Covert Hypnosis in The Mind Body Connection
Kevin Hogan
Covert Hypnosis includes messages (environmental, nonverbal and verbal) that create change in the mind of another or a group without the awareness of the other person or group. These messages can be sent with intention or accidentally but the unconscious mind responds regardless of intention. Three quick examples will help you understand what covert hypnosis before discussing how to use covert hypnosis for mind body healing.
Environmental: All behavior is contextual to some point. We behave differently in a church (reverently) than a library (quietly). We behave differently in a class room (studiously) than we do at a football game (boisterously). Our emotions are different at a funeral parlor (grief) than they are at a baby shower (joyous). You are far more likely to speak out in a group of five people, for example, than a group of 500 people. Behaviors can be influenced by the setting and/or context in which they are taking place.
Verbal: All behavior is influenced by spoken communication to some point. People respond to the words we say in some fashion. The response differs from person to person and context to context and is also influenced by the nonverbal communication of the sender and receiver. (This is why the results of using scripts in therapy are so across the board from client to client for therapists who use such tools. They only account for verbal communication.) The language we use, the intonation of our voice, the pace of our communication and the actual word choices all cause some experience in your clients. The experience could be heightened resistance or increased probability of compliance depending on all of the other variables mentioned here.
Nonverbal: All behavior is influenced by nonverbal communication to some point. The client’s nonverbal behavior influences himself and the therapist in ways that are rarely noted consciously by the therapist. For example: The client may have a very closed body posture and the therapist picks up on this at the unconscious level. The therapist processes this information unconsciously as a sign of the client not liking the therapist. The astute therapist could pursue this nonverbal information. The distracted therapist will never know the difference. Additionally and probably more importantly is the effect of the therapist's nonverbal behavior on the client. Does the therapist smile at the client? Does the therapist have an open posture toward the client? Does the therapist nod in affirmation of the client's presenting issues? Is the eye contact appropriate to the setting? These are all basic examples of how communication is altered by the covert nonverbal messages of the therapist.
Mind Body Connection: The mind body connection is now a simple fact of life. There are thousands of studies that show that the brain influences the body and the body influences the brain. Here are some examples of the thousands of examples that are in the Mind Body Home Study Course:
- Exercise improves some kinds of depression.
- The number of friends a person has can lengthen life of some cancer patients, reduce depression, and lengthen life of people without current health issues.
- When people are consciously aware of what they are eating they tend to eat less and thus reduce risk for diabetes, depression and obesity.
- Hostility increases the risk of heart disease.
- Meditation increases the immune response.
- SSRI medications decrease and regularly cure depression in the majority of individuals.
- The more control a person believes they have in the healing process the more likely they are to improve from some kinds of illnesses.
- Individuals who are assigned a friend in research on depression find that mild depression is alleviated in 12 weeks when the sufferer meets with her new friend each week for one hour. (Note this is mild and not severe depression.)
As you can see the brain doesn’t cure the body in all cases. Nor does the body mend the brain in all cases, but the influence of each on the other is clear. The connection between mind and body is a fact.
As a therapist there is no doubt in my mind that there is little you can do that is more important than becoming a new “rock” in a person’s life. In the era of brief therapy (6-12 sessions) it is certainly difficult for therapists to establish the true long term relationship that is so helpful in creating permanent change in people’s hearts and minds. Nevertheless, people suffering from chronic pain, chronic illness, depression, anxiety and a host of diseases can still benefit from your love and compassion on a short term basis.
Becoming a rock in someone’s life means that you are a stabilizing influence to them. You listen to their problems and help them talk about their issues. You accept them without judging their plight, their decisions and who they are. You do not judge or try to change their spiritual beliefs. You do not interject your beliefs into their lives. You simply listen…which is virtually synonymous with love.
The human animal has evolved to NEED physical and emotional connection with others. Although society has all but taken away our right to touch our clients (sexual misconduct, etc.) it has not taken away our right to emotionally connect with our clients and it is here that we can create fundamental long term change in our client. The compassionate practitioner is the successful practitioner. Greater than any technique or tool, the therapist who truly creates an atmosphere of loving understanding with their clients is the one who is most likely to gain the greatest long term results. In fact, I often speculate to my advanced certification course participants whether our jobs would be necessary if friends and family of our clients listened with love to our clients.
How do you use covert hypnosis to help the mind heal the body and the body heal the mind?
Covert hypnosis is subtle influence. I suggest you subtly create pre hypnotic suggestions that encourage the client to make critical changes in their life which will optimize their chances for healing. I also suggest you utilize some of these covert suggestions after any trance that is done in your office. Two or three suggestions per session are all it takes to make a difference if you are perceived as an authority in your field. If you are not, no amount of suggestion will significantly impact your client to any significant degree.
“I can see you walking one or two miles per day but I’m not sure I can see you in the gym, at least not yet.” The covert suggestion for light exercise like walking will add years to your client’s life and when suffering from some kinds of depression may just save your clients life. A few subtle covert hints at walking could just change the quality of your clients life forever. Walking as noted earlier can help reduce the effects of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, not to mention lower blood pressure and, well, you get the idea.
“Not only do I see you feeling less depressed in the future, I see someone who sticks to their medication religiously, takes walks and begins reconnecting with old friends and loved ones that make you feel good…” As you can see, in one simple suggestion we touch on the three most likely things to help a person resume a normal life from depression. (Medication, exercise and heart connections) The key is to phrase that last part correctly. You don’t want your client spending time with just anyone. You want your client investing their life-time with people who MAKE THEM FEEL GOOD inside. This is the great healing force. The love of other people, of a person’s friends literally creates longer life spans and reduces the devastation of many major illnesses of the body and brain.
“I’m not sure I can see you giving up donuts and rolls forever or entirely, but I do see you beginning to eat foods that will make you feel better BEFORE you eat the rolls and donuts…” People will not respond well to you taking away their favorite foods and in fact it isn’t legal for you to prescribe such a course of action without a medical degree. However, to covertly suggest eating foods like cantaloupe, spinach and healthy alternatives before eating their daily regiment of junk food will probably be enough to start a person on a healthy habit that could completely change their life in just a few months!
In the Covert Hypnosis Manual, you learn hundreds of questions with embedded suggestions on how to sell the unconscious mind of others on just what it is they need. Ethically utilized covert hypnosis is far more powerful than suggestive therapeutics because of the total sum of positive signals received environmentally, verbally and nonverbally on the part of the client combined with the fact that almost all covert strategies encourage the client to tell you the solution to their own challenges.
Covert strategies are not a cure all in and of themselves but they are among the most powerful ways to create long term change in the context of brief therapy, not to mention the obvious benefits in business and ethical selling practices. The mind body connection benefits most from covert work because the client is continually involved in the process giving the client back control of their own life ultimately free to find a new rock to replace you!
If you could give one covert message to your clients that will be appreciated for a lifetime it’s this: “And you know, whenever you need someone to listen to you, someone who really wants you better now, it’s me and I care and understand. Until you are comfortable and feel healed, I will be here for you.”
The covert and overt messages of compassion and understanding are those that we have all wanted for millennia. Forego the “5 minute cure” for the 12 week healing of a lifetime.
For Covert Hypnosis Part 2, click HERE.
COVERT HYPNOSIS: An Operators Manual for Influential Unconscious Communication in Selling, Business, Relationships and Hypnosis
by: Kevin Hogan
Covert Hypnosis is the utilization of techniques and strategies to change the perception and behavior of others in a completely unconscious way. The optimal applications for covert hypnosis are in the fields of selling, advertising, marketing, relationships and of course, therapy.
"I got chills up my spine as I started
flipping through your new book.
I'm afraid I'm either going to have
buy all rights to this thing from you
and take it off the market, or buy
all copies to keep you from selling it.
This material is the most powerful
stuff I've EVER seen for selling,
persuading, and motivating---
without anyone but you knowing it.
Truly amazing. You've hit another one
out of the park and over the stands."
-- Joe Vitale, author of the best-selling
series of "Hypnotic Writing" ebooks,
including the new "Hypnotic Writing
Swipe File" www.mrfire.com
This 100,000 word manual includes truly up to the minute scientific breakthroughs in the area of unconscious influence. For the simplicity of the reader the book is written with examples pertaining to either therapy or selling situations but of course the approaches discussed herein would apply equally as well to pastoring, teaching, training, and other relationship and group situations.
