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The Mystical Hypnotist - Beliefs, Placebo, and Neuroplasticity · The Hypnotist

0:05
Welcome to The Hypnotist, the show that gives you inside
0:09
access to cutting edge hypnosis with real clients facing genuine
0:13
issues. Brought to you by the
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Hypnotherapist, Demanded by celebrities, CEOs and even
0:18
royalty Adam Cox. These recordings took place live
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from Evans Clinic in London's world famous Harley Street.
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So get yourself comfortable and enjoy today's episode of The
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Hypnotist. Hi, it's Adam here.
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And this is not a usual hypnosis recording from me.
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It's not a usual podcast episode.
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This is me being interviewed by a host called Doctor Jet, who is
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a clinical pharmacist and now hypnotherapist.
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And we have a conversation about beliefs, the unconscious, the
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Pharmaceutical industry, and placebos and antidepressants,
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and also my way of working and my way of looking at belief
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systems and helping clients to change.
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So hopefully you find this useful.
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It's about 50 minutes long. I'm answering questions from
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Doctor Jett. And this originally was recorded
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for Doctor Jett's own podcast called The Mystical Podcast.
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So if you are interested in hearing more of this kind of
1:32
stuff, I'm going to have a link in the description where you can
1:35
check out her podcast. And that way you can find more
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conversations her hosting with other guests.
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So feel free to check that out. In the meantime, you might get
1:45
some value from this session. And it's less about how I got
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started as a hypnotist and more about my belief systems and my
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way of working. So you might find this
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interesting. So find a nice place to relax
1:57
and enjoy. Wonderful.
2:00
Well, this is Doctor Judd with The Mystical Hypnotist and I
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have a very special guest today, Adam Cox.
2:07
Thank you for joining. It's a pleasure to be on your
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show today. Thank you.
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And I love your podcast and all your episodes.
2:14
If you could kind of go into that a little bit and explain
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like how you got the idea for it, kind of your little
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background as well. Sure.
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So I've been a hypnotherapist for about 5 years and I was
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based in quite a prestigious address in London called Harley
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Street. And I chose that specifically
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because that's where a lot of very talented therapist ends up.
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Like that's the pinnacle of, of therapy.
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And I started there because I thought that if I was in a very
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prestigious place in London as a beginning hypnotist, right in
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the very early days, it would give me an element of prestige
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and credibility and help me attract clients that could
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afford to kind of pay higher than the average kind of
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hypnotherapist. So I had this place in in Harley
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Street and that was going well. And I was mainly working with
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people with weight loss and addictions and phobias.
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And then COVID came along and I had this sense that it didn't
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make sense to be paying high rent for a prestigious location
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if people weren't going to be seeing people face to face.
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And nobody really knew how long lockdown was going to last.
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But I had, I had a sense that it wasn't going to be a couple of
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weeks. So I ended that lease agreement
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and I really wanted an outlet for my hypnotherapy.
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I wanted a creative outlet. I'd already launched a podcast
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one month before called Modern Mindset where I interview
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people, but I wanted a podcast where it was just me sharing my
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hypnosis. And I, I had a background in
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broadcast and, and I love, I'm, I'm a tech geek.
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I love microphones and audio stuff.
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So what I had been doing anyway, every time I had a client with a
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studio quality microphone, I would record the hypnosis for
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them and then send them the hypnosis session after, when I
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got back home after the session. So I had a Bank of a couple of
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100 hypnosis recordings and I thought wouldn't it be a good
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idea to have a podcast that isn't for hypnotherapist to
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train them? Because there's some great
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podcast like that. I'm a big fan of Brain Software
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with Mike Mandel. And also I didn't want to have
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this kind of generic hypnotherapy recordings that
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clearly weren't for someone that they were just, you know, kind
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of generic like you kind of get on YouTube.
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So I kind of had this idea of what if I had a podcast that had
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the actual hypnosis recording from an actual session with a
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client. And then before the session
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starts, I just describe without breaking any confidentiality,
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what issues the client was facing and what kind of
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techniques and, and approaches I use for that particular client.
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And I protect the confidentiality by only
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recording my voice. And then that.
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And I did that in March 2020, right at the beginning of, of
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lockdown. And it's been going for about 5
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1/2 years or so now. And in the early days, I was
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getting like two or three downloads a day.
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And these days it's about 15,000 downloads a day.
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You know, hope it's, it's been over, I think 13 million
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downloads. So it's, it, it boggles my mind
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how many people have have heard my stuff.
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But it feels great. And I get to I get to share my
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hypnosis with the world. And I love it.
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I love your podcast, The Hypnotist.
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As I was saying, I was listening to your episode last night about
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the energy vampires. And I do love like, your new
5:54
take on explaining, like, how your client was going through
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something because that first, like, helps us get out of our
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critical mind and drop into a more empathetic space and
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analyzing someone else's, like, struggles.
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And then possibly, you know, we selected that episode, right?
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Because we're also dealing with that.
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And so I really enjoy that. That's something that is my
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favorite part of your podcast because you have that
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introductory of like, you know, getting real moment or like
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where I'm from in the South, we called shoot the shit.
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So you're just like explaining what's happening to an everyday
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person or maybe like a royal celebrity or whoever.
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And there it's similar struggles that we have.
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And so how you explain it? And then in the episode I was
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listening to like the visionary part of like cleaning the fire.
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It was interesting. It was really interesting.
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And then you kind of segwayed from that fire into these things
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that suck energy. So it was very beautiful, like
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foreshadowing I saw with like your fire element and then like
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having that, you know, this burden of all that energy in you
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and then you get around these people that they do take that
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from you. They do take glory or, you know,
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spontaneity or more control. So just depends on what level
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they are are, but no, I really enjoy like that part of each
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episode you do. I always am listening and then
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trying to like self reflect myself saying, oh, what am I
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doing that draw me to this that I know I need to work on.
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So yeah, I love it and. I think it does a couple of
7:30
things as well because one of the key therapeutic tools in in
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hypnotherapy is disassociation. So the moment I'm describing
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someone else, they get to almost perceive their issues like
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they're like, like they're thinking about themselves like
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someone else because it was for someone else.
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What it also does is it manages their expectations.
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Because when you listen to a hypnosis session on my podcast,
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some of the suggestions are incredibly specific to the
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client that I'm working with. So explaining that, well, this
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was for someone else means that it reduces the probability of
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breaking rapport when certain suggestions come up.
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And it's like, oh, where did that come from?
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Well, it's already been explained that it was for
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someone else. But my belief is that because
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there's 7 billion people in the world, even though I created
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that hypnosis session for a specific client, there's enough
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people in the world that can relate to the original things.
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So that energy vampire session, I, I, I think I did that two or
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three years ago and it was for someone that really felt that
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other people could really affect their mood and it, it was
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creative for them. But you found value from that
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yesterday, even though it was creative for someone else.
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And I think that's the wonderful thing about this, is that
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there's so many people in the world going through difficult
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things could find something relevant for them.
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And that dissociation part is so intrigual to hypnosis.
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And that's something I love so much is that it's one of the few
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things that you can really help a person change their
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perspective without having, you know, trauma or great deal of
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grief. It's just a way for them to
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know, you know, to look at a scene from a different angle.
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And that's kind of how I got the most healing from my hypnose
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hypnotherapy sessions. I did both general and past life
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regression kind. And so I had to do both ends,
9:27
really, to try to find out what was going wrong.
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And it was energy vampires in my life through family.
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And I had found what I'd always known.
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And so I'd always known this story growing up, that my sister
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had been hurt and something had happened.
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But the perspective I had learned was she was crazy.
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And so as I learned through hypnotherapy to take a different
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perspective of my life and what I was subjected to, I learned
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that my sister wasn't crazy and that that was the case.
9:58
And those energy vampires were involved.
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And they were involved through lots of lifetimes.
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I fucking deal with them. So it's very interesting that
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like, that carries trend. And for me, it depends, you
10:09
know, how much your body takes in.
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So for me, it represented in my hair.
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So I was losing my hair at a like crazy degree.
10:18
No doctors could explain. I was going through like
10:21
lawsuits. This was kind of during COVID
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and at the end of it. So they were just checking up
10:26
to, you know, anxiety, lawsuits, COVID.
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And I was like, guys, this is this is deeper.
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There's something much deeper going on.
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And I said through different types of hypnosis, I really
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started to have a different perspective.
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And then I found that what I had always known, but the mind is
10:46
beautiful. It won't, I believe.
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Maybe we'll see if you think so too.
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I don't think it will ever show you something you don't want to
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see or ready for. It's almost like protects you in
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so many different ways. Now, if you're doing other
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substances, there may be darker things that that show up, but
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just if you're living a pretty clean life, I would say the mind
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is doing everything it can to protect you so that you survive.
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And so what's interesting about hypnosis is if you can cause
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that dissociation and that different perspective, you're
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kind of unraveling that onion of protection to find the core
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problem. And for me, like I said, it was
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hair loss and I didn't, I didn't, you know, I knew it.
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I knew always what the problem was, but I had protected myself
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as anyone would. And I would agree with that.
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I think the mind and and and the brain is almost hard wired for
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survival and therefore a lot of things come from a place of
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protection. But it's not.
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It's not perfect. And sometimes the paradox is, is
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that the intention can be to protect, but actually the
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experience that an individual has can be panic attacks or it
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could be addictions. Like a lot of people with
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addictions are trying to deal with a very heavy emotion.
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Even if the intention of that heavy emotion is to protect.
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It's an unpleasant emotion. And then they try and numb that
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pain, which is also protective, but in doing so it can be
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destructive. And I think a lot of what good
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hypnotherapists do is they they reverse engineer and they say
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like, you've got this thing, let's imagine it's coming from a
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well-intentioned place, but delivered badly.
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How do we optimize this? How do we improve it so that you
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get the protective positive side, but without all of this
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self sabotage or self disruption or inner criticism or whatever
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it might be. And I would say criticism is a
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good example of that. A lot of people have a voice
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inside their head that's very critical.
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Positive intention is high standards, but it can make
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people miserable and damage their self esteem and and knock
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their confidence. So it's about finding an elegant
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solution that keeps the person protected but gets them enjoying
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more useful, resourceful states. Yeah, and you're absolutely
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right, it does cause like you were saying, that survival
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state, they will pick up things that are very harmful, like you
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said, and destructive to the body a lot of times.
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But sadly, it's usually because it's something they don't want
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to find or address. Or like you said, it's so
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emotionally heavy. It's something they're just
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struggling with at the NTH degree to survive.
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So yeah. And that's interesting you had
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such a big change during COVID. I did too.
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I did too. I used to do pharmacy.
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I was working in the hospital. I usually made drugs to put
13:44
people into a coma. So I always say now this is much
13:49
easier. I don't do anaesthesia.
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I don't, it's not amnesia. It's just like you said, kind of
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reworking different brain pathways and finding out the
13:59
different ways to help someone, whether it's through, you know,
14:03
different limiting beliefs or different ways to rewire what
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they're, what they're working on.
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So yeah, what's one of the most interesting cases you've ever
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had or come across? One of the most interesting
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ones, and it's a it's a rare one, but there was a, a school
14:20
teacher, an English school teacher that hadn't had a good
14:23
night's sleep in years. And the reason why is that every
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time there was a loud noise or a noise that they couldn't explain
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at night, they would have a really deep belief that it was
14:40
some kind of almost like evil force, almost like a spirit or a
14:49
poltergeist or something like that.
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And it was a very interesting pattern because they would hear
14:55
a noise and it might be like a fox knocking over a dustbin
14:59
outside or some kind of clatter or the wind.
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You'd wake up. And if they couldn't find a very
15:06
clear explanation, quickly they would come to the conclusion
15:09
that it was this evil force. And then obviously that's going
15:13
to make someone feel unsafe. That's going to have lots of
15:15
adrenaline and cortisol, not the kind of neurotransmitters that
15:19
are useful for sleeping. And it would mess up their
15:21
sleep. And this was happening for ages
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and it came from with them as a child, about 8 years old,
15:27
watching a documentary about poltergeists.
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But it was one of those documentaries, you know, like
15:32
the Discovery Channel. They, they'll have these kind of
15:35
things like UFOs, but it's kind of like as if it's real.
15:39
And, and they'll have like talking heads and experts and,
15:42
and all of this. So this child, very vulnerable,
15:44
saw this documentary about poltergeists and it's like, wow,
15:47
they're real. He formed that belief in that
15:50
moment. That was the point of inception.
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And it was ruining his sleep because again, going back to
15:54
protection, the unconscious was trying to protect them from
15:59
evil, from harm, even though intellectually and logically
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they were an intelligent teacher.
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They knew that poltergeist didn't exist.
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But the belief was and the body was acting as if they were.
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And in, in just two or three sessions, what I did is I
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leverage the pre-existing belief that the body is acting, that a
16:23
noise that couldn't be explained has to be an invisible entity
16:28
that is malicious. Why couldn't it be an invisible
16:31
entity that is protective? So we kind of turned these
16:34
poltergeist into guardian angels in, in the third session, like
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he was, he was kind of like tearful.
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He was like, I've slept, I've had a good night's sleep for the
16:44
first time in ages. So I would say that's an unusual
16:48
client. You know, most clients don't
16:49
have such, you know, kind of, you know, unusual beliefs.
16:54
But it wasn't, it was an unusual, unusual belief that was
16:58
disempowering. And, and one of my belief
17:00
systems is that I don't care if beliefs are true or not.
17:02
I care if they're useful or not. It's useful to believe that
17:07
noises that you can't explain mean danger.
17:09
It's not useful to believe that. But if you do, that would
17:13
explain why you're not sleeping well.
17:15
And, and as a result of that messing up his sleep.
17:18
One quick change of that belief in a reframe, he was sleeping
17:22
fine. And I think that's the that's
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the wonderful thing about hypnotherapy is that people can
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struggle for years. This, this guy was taking
17:30
sleeping tablets, melatonin supplements, you know,
17:34
antidepressants like everything, but none of these doctors, GPS,
17:39
pharmacists, we're figuring out where's it all coming from?
17:42
Why are you feeling this level of anxiety at night?
17:45
Just as you know this from your background in pharmacy, the
17:48
Pharmaceutical industry is about managing symptoms, not
17:51
addressing the root cause of the problem.
17:53
And, you know, that's, that's the an elegant goal for a
17:57
hypnotherapist to kind of figure out where's this all coming
18:00
from? Oh, a belief that was formed
18:02
when you watch your documentary when you're 8 years old.
18:04
Well, let's deal with that. And that's beautiful to reframe
18:07
it, that it's positive. That's what we do a lot in past
18:11
life. Regression therapy is it's 100%
18:14
reframing whatever is presented because it could be wild, you
18:18
know, they could be seeing fairies, you know, but it's
18:21
presenting what they've seen as a protection and as an element
18:27
of understanding for their current situation in this
18:31
reality. So it's very important to be
18:33
grounding them that, you know, this is great, we saw this, but
18:37
there's some application for this in your reality.
18:40
Your mind is showing you this for something in your reality.
18:44
I don't know why I wouldn't understand why you're seeing
18:47
that, you know, but it's it's different for everyone.
18:50
But yeah, it's very important to reground them in that and then
18:54
like you said, show it as a positive.
18:56
But belief systems are the hardest.
18:58
So I like how your take on if they're useful, they're good
19:02
because those are the hardest to get through.
19:05
And that's why pharmacy and medical is so prevalent at
19:09
people thinking they're getting better because you're believing
19:13
when they take that medicine, it's working.
19:16
And sadly that's a good thing in a way because your body will
19:20
help its itself and heal what it needs to.
19:24
But as you said, pharmacy is about masking the symptoms and
19:30
and trying to. Make or or or managing the
19:32
symptoms. I think what's fascinating about
19:34
the Pharmaceutical industry is that every clinical trial has to
19:37
be, you know, measured against the control group.
19:42
And that control group generally is then given a placebo, which
19:44
they think may be the actual thing.
19:47
And, and sometimes when you compare, I, I remember they,
19:51
they don't have the same level of detail on, on kind of
19:54
medication packaging here in the UK that they do in the States.
19:56
But I was in the States and, and there was some packaging for,
20:01
and I think it was an antidepressant, but I saw the
20:03
label and it was like side effects may include suicidal
20:07
ideation, heart palpitations, and it had all this list of all
20:11
these kind of like really horrible side effects.
20:15
And then it said has a 62%. Improvement against against the
20:20
control group. And I'm like, OK, so this is
20:24
better than some. That's something that did
20:27
nothing at all with no side effects, complete placebo, but
20:31
that still helped make people make people feel happier just
20:34
because they expected it to. And, and I think some of
20:38
hypnosis is based on on that. And, and I think again, as a
20:42
hypnotherapist, I lean into that.
20:44
That's why I was in Harley Street.
20:45
That's why in the early days, I would have very expensive suits
20:49
and, and, and kind of, you know, dress the part and, and make
20:53
sure they were aware of my qualifications.
20:54
Because it all adds to this element of expectation that if
20:58
you're dealing with someone credible, then that's going to
21:00
enhance the results. What I would say with with
21:04
belief systems, people are too obsessed with is it true or not?
21:10
Here's the interesting thing. Humans can believe anything if
21:16
you look, if you look through we've.
21:17
Seen this? Yeah, if you look through
21:19
history, humans don't like not knowing.
21:25
So if they don't know something, they'll fill in the gaps.
21:27
And was it was it true that in Viking times over Scandinavia,
21:34
when there was a thunderstorm, it was a God called Thor
21:38
smashing his hammer against the clouds through sheer anger?
21:42
You know, no. And when they made a sacrifice,
21:45
was that appeasing the gods to build goodwill?
21:49
We would say now no, But they certainly believed that at the
21:52
time to the extent that they would sacrifice animals and even
21:57
humans to do that. Humans can believe anything.
22:00
You probably know a few conspiracy theorists.
22:04
You know, there's lots of people that have some woo woo beliefs
22:08
and and there's lots of people with religious beliefs that
22:13
again, I no judgement for me, I'm an atheist.
22:16
But if someone has a religious belief, why would anyone get
22:20
into a conversation about whether it's true or not?
22:23
What's way more useful is, is it useful?
22:25
No, I don't care if you believe in God or Allah or Buddha or
22:30
whatever it might be. Does it enhance the quality of
22:32
your life? Does it make it easier to deal
22:36
with difficult things that you're going through?
22:38
Who cares if it's true and, and, and therefore the moment you
22:42
don't care if beliefs are true as a therapist, but you care
22:46
more about if they're useful, well then it makes sense to get
22:50
almost release disempowering beliefs that are causing
22:53
problems and have way more of those empowering beliefs and
22:57
useful beliefs that make people feel.
23:00
You know how many people are, are told when they're a child
23:02
they're stupid, you know, or you know, they're ugly or this or
23:06
that. There's people walking around
23:08
with beliefs that they were told from an older person when they
23:12
were young. That's a post hypnotic
23:14
suggestion. They were told something, they
23:16
believed it and they're running that program throughout their
23:19
life. And I think one of the the most
23:20
beautiful things that we can do in hypnotherapy is audit and
23:24
figure out what is the belief that's causing all the problems.
23:27
Change that belief and life gets better quickly.
23:32
And that's how how it worked with like, especially with my
23:35
therapy, I had to change belief systems about my family because
23:40
I said I had a different perspective.
23:41
I finally saw it for my sisters, not from them's.
23:45
So I had to change my beliefs about my family and about my
23:48
religion, which I always knew and didn't espouse to or like.
23:53
I wouldn't say I'm totally atheist, but I would say at this
23:55
point I believe there's some fabric that connects us all.
23:59
But like you, I don't care what it is and I'm usually just
24:02
trying to figure out and tap into that because a lot of times
24:06
what's interesting is when I do do the past life therapy, that
24:11
fabric that I'm tapping into at a deeper level in the Theta,
24:15
it's very consistent. No matter everyone that comes
24:18
in, unless their belief system in a religion is so ingrained in
24:24
fear, then there's questions that will deviate and the
24:29
answers will deviate. So it's very interesting to see.
24:33
Like I said, I'll have people that are Muslim, I'll have
24:36
people that you know, are fundamentalist Christians and
24:38
all the different realms and some that are atheists.
24:42
And usually when we tap into that core consciousness level,
24:46
the answers are very similar. Unless the belief system is so
24:51
ingrained in fear, then you can tell though they slip out.
24:56
You can tell the voice change, you can tell they're dropping
24:59
out of that trance a little bit because they're working back
25:02
into that belief system that they they've ingrained and they
25:06
don't. It's a protection thing too.
25:08
They don't want to know go past that.
25:12
So it is definitely difficult. Belief systems are very hard,
25:15
especially the religious. I know when I practice because
25:18
I'm from Texas. When I practice this in Texas,
25:21
it very hard to connect, very hard to find even clients that
25:26
people are always in such a fierce state that you're putting
25:29
something in their mind that California or Mexico easily
25:34
accepted. Mexico, it's very much accepted,
25:37
and I think it's because they have a bigger respect for the
25:41
dead in the Day of the Dead, so that's ingrained in their
25:45
culture. So they don't have as much of A
25:47
fear around hypnosis or other lifetimes.
25:51
So yeah. And I've worked with quite a few
25:54
people with religious trauma because unfortunately there
25:59
there are some beautiful intentions and beliefs in most
26:06
religions. You know, be like, be be loving,
26:09
be kind, be generous, help those in need.
26:12
But actually throughout most of human history, a lot of
26:16
religions have been a socialization tool to control.
26:21
And a lot of I was raised as a, as a Catholic, you know, when
26:26
you've got things that are linked a lot to guilt or shame
26:31
or judgement and fear, like the phrase God fearing is seen as as
26:37
equality in certain, you know, cultures and countries, you
26:41
know, to fear God. And it's kind of like, well,
26:43
that that means that they are an imposing, you know, kind of
26:48
vengeful force. And in the Old Testament, God
26:50
certainly was, you know, like that.
26:52
So unfortunately, I've worked with people that as a result of
26:59
very strict religious upbringings, there is a lot of
27:02
shame and there is sometimes a lot of very intrusive thoughts
27:08
and very critical judgmental thoughts because it came from a
27:11
place where they believed that, well, doing certain things is is
27:17
wrong. And it might be wrong in one
27:19
culture and completely fine in a different culture.
27:21
But, but I think unfortunately there is a downside.
27:24
So when people say religion is good, it's kind of like it can
27:27
be, but it can be horrible. I mean, the Catholic Church is
27:32
responsible for huge amounts of abuse and, you know, kind of
27:39
horrible things. And it's kind of like, well, you
27:42
can't say that's religion. You can say that's the people
27:44
that were religious, but unfortunately, it was used to
27:48
justify certain behaviours. And I think again, hypnotherapy
27:53
can be quite good to sometimes untangle some of those, you
27:57
know, beliefs that were ingrained and and we would call
28:00
that brainwashing in a different contest where you've got lots of
28:03
propaganda of things which can't be verifiably proven.
28:07
That's not education, that's brainwashing.
28:10
And again, if you brainwash people into believing that
28:14
they're talented, you know, that they're capable, that they can
28:18
make a difference in the world, that's kind of brainwashing.
28:21
I think it's quite good. You know, I think most parents
28:23
want to kind of brainwash their children's to kind of feel that
28:26
way. But if the brainwashing is you
28:28
know that you're useless or that you should feel shame and guilt,
28:32
you know, and, and things unfortunately that can play out
28:35
and that can actually that can ruin lives.
28:38
So but beliefs can be tricky because there's a secondary gain
28:42
often to believing the belief and also a fear of a lot of
28:48
people that were in cults and then they try and leave the
28:50
cult. There is this element of their
28:53
identity is linked to those beliefs and that if they leave
28:56
that, who are they as a person? You know, and, and in certain
29:01
cultures, if you reject a religion, even if it's just
29:06
certain parts of it, you can be ostracized or you can lose
29:10
communities and family connections and those kind of
29:13
things. And I think, you know, it's,
29:15
it's useful, I think for anyone, if they feel that emotions are
29:22
unpleasant, linked to their core religious beliefs, it's worth
29:26
thinking like, do they serve you?
29:27
Are they useful? Is it enhancing the quality of
29:30
your life? And if not, change them.
29:33
And that's that's beautiful how you described it.
29:36
Most religions especially I can speak in for America in the
29:40
fundamentalist sect, they utterly use fear, guilt, shame
29:47
to control as it's a cult to control the people within it.
29:52
And like you said, what's sad is the children that are born into
29:56
this, they don't know anything different.
29:59
So they have been raised their entire lives in a fear construct
30:05
that if they believe differently, if they want
30:08
something differently, if they want something they desire, even
30:12
if it's to wear a different outfit, you know that that's
30:15
wrong and that's shame. And as you said, that ingrains
30:18
forever. And deconstructing that is very,
30:22
very difficult and it requires lots of, lots of therapy and
30:27
help. And what is sad is, at least in
30:29
America, I think at a grand scale, our political leader has
30:33
tapped into that. And that's how they were able to
30:36
go through the churches. That's how they were able to
30:40
utilize the flag as symbology because a lot of the schools
30:46
that were in these Christian belief systems and
30:50
fundamentalist specifically, they used curriculum and taught
30:54
the children to raise the American flag if they had a
30:58
question or something. So there was ingrained symbology
31:02
within their curriculum and within their training.
31:06
So that that entity tapped into that as a way to sway, you know,
31:12
a lot of belief systems because of symbology, because of, you
31:16
know, coloring and all of these things.
31:18
We know that that can be used in propaganda to tap into a force
31:25
to to do something. And that's, I really think what
31:28
we saw happen in America and what a lot of people have kind
31:31
of described. There's been a documentary about
31:34
it. A lot of people are kind of
31:37
talking about it in different ways that this was a belief
31:40
system. This was something that I tapped
31:43
into to utilize propaganda. And like you said, it doesn't
31:46
take a lot of things for someone to believe something.
31:50
And when you have got a belief, then you've got all of these
31:53
processes, like cognitive biases that reinforce that you start
31:57
seeing the world through that belief system, which self
31:59
perpetuates A belief system, which is good if it's a really
32:02
empowering belief system. If you believe that, you know,
32:06
people are fundamentally good and you are very capable, then,
32:11
you know, you treat the world differently.
32:14
Believe. Yeah, If you believe that,
32:17
there's no failure, just feedback.
32:19
If you believe you either win or you learn, then you deal with
32:23
rejection and setbacks in an entirely different way.
32:26
It self perpetuates, unfortunately.
32:28
There are certain beliefs that are divisive and there's certain
32:32
beliefs that lead to resentment and hate and those kind of
32:36
things. And I think when people think of
32:38
hypnotherapy is just something that happens in therapy rooms or
32:43
hypnosis happens on stage, they're missing the point.
32:46
Hypnosis happens in the school system, It happens in the
32:48
political system, it happens in the religious system because
32:51
it's a way of communicating in such a way that you can alter
32:56
beliefs and, and access different emotional states.
33:00
Therefore, because it's so powerful, of course it's going
33:02
to be found everywhere. It's just not called hypnosis.
33:06
And I think you know, the moment you, you learn about hypnosis,
33:09
you see hypnotherapy or hypnosis everywhere.
33:13
I do, at least I, I see it in one of one of my favorite things
33:16
to talk about when I'm at the conferences is movie metaphors.
33:20
Because, you know, there is a lot of symbolism and there is a
33:23
lot of structural, you know, things that are similar to kind
33:27
of hypnotherapy in the actual structure of, of movies.
33:31
Quite often it follows the hero's journey as a, as a story
33:33
arc. Well, what do most clients want
33:36
to do? They want to change.
33:38
They want to, they want to evolve from who they are to who
33:42
they want to be. That's every character in every
33:45
movie, in every story. Like there is a transformation
33:48
that takes place. So I think, you know, once you
33:51
you're kind of aware of this stuff, you can kind of what
33:54
helps to protect you against psychological tools like, you
33:59
know, kind of indoctrination, brainwashing, you know,
34:04
influence in a more insidious way.
34:06
But also I think it it helps you to be more conscious of what
34:11
kind of life do you want to live and therefore what kind of
34:14
belief systems and and thoughts you want consistently to have
34:18
more of that, more of that quality of life that's
34:20
desirable. I agree 100% and also I always
34:24
go off. You said you went on those.
34:26
I go off on drug commercials because I'm a pharmacist and now
34:29
that I know, I just slay them. I go every drug commercial is a
34:34
hypnotic element and they're like, how do you mean?
34:36
I was like, they start off with the story, they built the story.
34:40
Are you having these symptoms? How are you doing?
34:43
Oh, you're suffering from depression.
34:45
Everything's gloomy, everything. And that's the buy in.
34:48
So that's where the client's going.
34:50
I do have this. Oh, this does happen.
34:53
And then the next part they break.
34:55
They always change the setting, the element, the tone, and then
34:58
they're like. But today you can try this
35:02
truck. It's hope and it's the darker
35:05
changes as well, but often the, the colours are quite gloomy for
35:09
depression. They're quite gloomy and then
35:11
suddenly they're brighter, you know, and there's more smiles
35:14
and, and, and all that kind of stuff.
35:16
And it is, it is, I mean, effectively commercials are
35:18
there to, to influence and, and at some level it's a post
35:22
hypnotic suggestion. I consider a post hypnotic
35:26
suggestion. If X then Y, If you've got these
35:29
symptoms of depression, then get this medication and your life
35:32
gets better. If you believe that to be true.
35:36
Yes, there will be some, you know, biochemical ingredient in
35:40
the actual kind of drug itself that has an impact.
35:43
But a lot of it is that you're buying into the very expectation
35:47
that this thing helps. And therefore, if there is a
35:49
placebo element, what if that contributes more than the drug,
35:54
but now you've got the dependency and you've got the
35:56
side effects. So you're right, a lot of these.
35:59
For antidepression, we can already say those
36:02
antidepressants, it's been clinically shown that placebo
36:06
was better. They show that sugar pills were
36:09
better. So we can say without a doubt
36:11
for that whole group that that was better.
36:14
And I mean, it's clear to say like in America, they have all
36:17
of that class of drugs has to have a black box warning.
36:21
Being as a pharmacist, I have to tell you, you have an increased
36:25
risk of suicide. And I remember setting in
36:27
school, learning that and asking my professor, how the fuck can I
36:30
recommend this? You've got to be kidding me.
36:33
Like, how can I set here and give someone who's depressed a
36:37
drug that is going to make them more depressed?
36:39
And it does. And I would listen to my
36:41
patients time and time again tell me I feel worse.
36:44
This makes me feel worse. I may have a little more energy,
36:47
but I feel like that energy could be to do something that
36:50
would be bad. And so it's very interesting how
36:54
they they wrote well and go through all those different ways
36:58
to make these suggestions and use hypnosis.
37:00
And it's definitely 100% in healthcare and kind of talking
37:04
about like your different mindset.
37:06
I try to explain to everyone now that we're in trance all day,
37:11
it's what brain wave state you pick.
37:13
And so I lies like my pharmacy mindset.
37:15
I was like when I was a pharmacist, I was in beta.
37:19
I was very critical. I had to be counting by 5.
37:21
I was making chemotherapy. I was making drugs for you to go
37:24
into a coma. You know, I wasn't painting a
37:26
picture. I wasn't telling a story.
37:29
We weren't talking about fairies.
37:31
And so basically each mind and each activity that we're trying
37:35
to do, our brain picks a different brain wave state.
37:39
And it's so much harder for us to get out of that beta critical
37:43
mind wave state and get into alpha, get into Theta and get
37:48
into delta. And that's why people are having
37:50
struggle sleeping. That's why, you know, yes,
37:53
there's belief systems, yes, there's, you know, all this
37:56
trauma, but there's also just the fear thing of they don't
38:00
remember how to unplug and let go and change that brain wave
38:06
state in the moment where it's like, you know, we've all had
38:09
that person we known that just doesn't give a fuck where, you
38:12
know, like the world could be going on fire.
38:14
And they're just like, Yep, that's, that's it.
38:16
That's they're fine. And that's, that's something a
38:20
lot of us don't have, you know, and it's we have to train
38:23
ourselves to get to that, to get to that state and that brain
38:27
wave state. And that's something that's so
38:29
nice about hypnosis is if you can just listen like yours.
38:33
I immediately go into Delta when I listen to you.
38:35
I mean, I don't even get into like baby three like after your
38:39
first explanation and I do the dissociation, like 9 times out
38:44
of 10, I'm fucking gone and I'm waking up when you're pulling me
38:46
back up and you're like, and this is the end.
38:49
And I'm like, Oh my God, I don't even know what I did.
38:52
But what's nice is you are so calming and your scripts and how
38:56
you do it, it's so nice. I immediately drop into Delta.
38:59
I'm immediately going into a deep sleep and getting that
39:03
relaxation that I need. So it's a way to train yourself,
39:07
definitely. Yeah.
39:09
And once those neural pathways know how to get into that state,
39:11
they can get there more often. And I think society, you know,
39:15
is very much accomplish, achieve do this deadline, this problem,
39:20
you know, and therefore, you know, a lot of people are in
39:23
that very kind of alert, you know, kind of problem solving
39:27
state almost their sympathetic nervous system is kind of
39:30
vigilant and on guard. And therefore, you know, well,
39:33
try sleeping like that. It becomes more more difficult.
39:36
Try during a vacation when you're in that state, you know,
39:39
and for some people, it takes two or three days for them to
39:42
kind of switch out from one state into another state.
39:45
You can do it in seconds because you've, you've trained and
39:48
practice. Other people can take, you know,
39:50
they're on a vacation and it's, they're about to return and
39:53
they're just getting into that kind of state of relaxation.
39:55
It's like, you know, and it, and it, it can be frustrating for
39:58
people, but you know, there are, there are tools out there that
40:02
enable people to access these states quicker.
40:05
And that might be meditation for one person, it might be hypnosis
40:08
for another person. It might be, you know.
40:11
Sound, sound baths and floatation tanks for someone
40:15
else. But but there's so many ways
40:16
that people can get to that place.
40:18
Totally. I know for for me it's hypnosis.
40:22
I'm not as good at meditation. When I try to meditate and do
40:26
that, I usually get back into my critical mind.
40:28
It doesn't work the same way as hypnosis.
40:31
I've always been good at just falling asleep and like that's
40:34
when because it's, you know, the states closer to that, it's
40:37
easier for me. But meditation, getting in that
40:40
state, it's harder for me and substances bother me.
40:43
Like once I stop being a pharmacist, I don't drink
40:45
coffee. No, I don't like it.
40:48
I don't like being in that brain wave state because it causes
40:50
some caffeine along with like a lot of different drugs like your
40:54
ADHD meds, they actually keep you in the beta brain wave
40:58
state. So the whole goal of like
41:02
Ritalin or even like meth on the street is they're actually
41:05
causing your brain to be in beta wave state.
41:09
Came with coffee, same with everything.
41:11
So it's interesting then different substances like
41:14
cannabis or ayahuasca or mushrooms, how those are working
41:19
is they're getting you into Theta brain wave state.
41:23
Same with ketamine. Ketamine would also get you to
41:25
Theta and delta. Ketamine's a little stronger, so
41:28
it would even get you more to delta.
41:31
So, yeah, and. I think a lot of people are.
41:34
Yeah, I've had a few clients the, you know, they, they will
41:38
micro dose while they're doing the hypnotherapy session either
41:42
live or they'll intend to do it alongside the recording later.
41:48
And it's because their beliefs or their research tells them
41:52
that it helps with neuroplasticity, that it helps
41:55
to kind of create new neural pathways.
41:57
And that's what they want. They don't want more of the
42:00
same, they want something different.
42:02
And I, and I think, you know, it's good we live in a time
42:06
where there is more access to research.
42:08
You know, when I grew up, it was kind of like the statements like
42:12
drugs are bad. And it's kind of like, you know,
42:15
that's not very nuanced. You know, drugs are crucial.
42:19
If you're sick and there's a particular drug that can help
42:22
you, you know, certain drugs I think are more about profit for
42:27
the pharmaceutical companies than they are about actually
42:30
kind of helping people. So it's very nuanced and, and I
42:34
think, you know, I've, I've never, I've never used
42:37
recreational drugs, but I don't, I don't have very strong
42:43
judgements that it's good or bad.
42:44
It's kind of like it depends on the belief system of the
42:47
individual and their own personal experiences.
42:49
And I worked with, I worked with the client who is very logical,
42:53
very intellectual. He's a day trader, but he had an
42:58
LSD experience and really felt that he connected into this kind
43:03
of almost collective consciousness.
43:06
We just did this whole hypnosis session to reactivate that
43:09
feeling without him needing to take LSD each time.
43:12
He wanted to kind of feel that way.
43:14
So I think there is a an idea and that is that any feeling or
43:20
any thought or any kind of strategy that you've had even
43:22
once can be replicated or duplicated.
43:26
That's kind of the essence of regression.
43:28
So it's kind of like if people have had, you know, these kind
43:31
of experiences, then want to create like a virtual equivalent
43:35
of them. But for some people, they just
43:38
want the change and then the micro dosing help to kind of
43:40
feel that they're enhancing the the effects.
43:43
You know, obviously, you know, I wouldn't recommend that.
43:47
What I would say is do your own research if you're a listener
43:49
listening to this and, and figure out what's right for you,
43:53
you know, and, and, and seek the right credible information to
43:57
make that decision. But from my perspective, I'm a
44:01
big believer in freedom and, and, and people should do what
44:04
feels right for them. That may not be right for me.
44:09
You know, I'm, I'm not going to criticize someone else's
44:11
behaviour or, or religion, but equally, you know, I'll follow
44:16
my own things. And I think that's how it should
44:18
be. And I think we're living in a
44:19
very polarized time where people are very quick to kind of judge
44:24
the behaviour and values and beliefs of other people.
44:27
It's kind of like, isn't the point to kind of find your own
44:30
beliefs and kind of find your own way of living like that?
44:34
That seems like such an obvious thing and and that just comes
44:37
from empathy and understanding rather than judgement and
44:40
criticism. Like what?
44:42
What? Why not let others be how they
44:45
want to be? Yeah.
44:46
But that's also a different emotional state to be an empathy
44:50
and understanding versus that. So it's very, that's a different
44:55
scale for even that. But yeah, but I'm with you.
44:59
Whatever people want to choose as their way to healing or
45:02
finding what they need, doing research about it.
45:05
I've had several clients have lots of help.
45:08
I usually work with the mushrooms and they've had lots
45:11
of help, neuroplasticity rebuilding.
45:14
I've had clients that have seizures, different things
45:18
looking at different ways to help rebuild their brain.
45:21
So yeah, it's been very beautiful.
45:23
It's been definitely an aid in sessions.
45:25
I would say like when I'm regressing them, I usually use
45:30
it with past life regression. So usually when I do it and they
45:33
have that with the regression they set, their lights are on
45:38
more. It's just like the imagery is on
45:40
much better for them and not me being a scientist.
45:44
I've tested it myself obviously. And I can, I can concur that for
45:49
me too, that for, for me, when I go under, I'm not as detailed.
45:55
You know, everyone has a different scale of
45:57
visualization. So some of my clients are like
46:00
Leonardo da Vinci and like all their little details and I'm
46:03
more like a big picture standing observing.
46:07
And I noticed that when I, I have utilized them that I do get
46:12
more finer detail. I am getting more in tune and
46:17
then I feel like afterwards I'm more aligned and in tune.
46:22
So I'm more empathetic. I'm more, you know, going
46:25
outside in nature and just seeing how things are beautiful
46:28
again and I'm connecting and just being more happy in the
46:32
present instead of focusing on what has happened in the past or
46:36
what I'm worried about in the future.
46:39
And so for me, I really enjoy that Cause again, I can look at
46:42
it from, you know, a clinical perspective as a pharmacist, I'm
46:46
like, clearly this is changing something in my wiring right at
46:52
a molecular level where I'm getting out of this anxious,
46:56
getting out of this survival, sympathetic overload and that
47:00
I'm really focused on the now I'm focusing on like what I can
47:04
control and then, you know, being more appreciative of the
47:08
world around you. That's a great side effect.
47:11
That's better than, you know, erectile dysfunction, thyroid
47:14
cancer, high blood pressure. So I'm just like, as a clinical
47:19
person, I'm like, if the side effect of having these things
47:23
and especially more the natural medicine is more empathy and
47:28
love and understanding and like you said, not caring what the
47:31
other people are doing or their beliefs or that, I mean, then
47:35
that's a good side effect. That's, that's a good outcome
47:39
for for it. So, yeah, but all of them have
47:42
different, different side effects.
47:45
Ketamine is definitely more it's because it's a drug that
47:48
actually can used to put people in a coma like on ventilators.
47:52
So always on that one. I recommend that one a little
47:55
less than more natural substances, but it is approved
47:59
for depression and I have used it in depression and it's
48:02
amazing. In fact, when I was a student,
48:05
we would give patients Ivs of ketamine and then they would
48:09
come to the pharmacy and get the nasal spray and they had
48:12
amazing, amazing depression relief.
48:16
So that that's just something I love to hear.
48:18
But we also lost our our buddy from friends.
48:22
So I was like, we also lost him. So I was like, ketamine has its
48:26
downsides. And it was actually a drug that
48:29
was taken a lot in the hospitals and abuse.
48:32
So yeah. And most people don't realize.
48:35
Did you know ketamine was a horse tranquilizer?
48:37
I did. I did OK.
48:39
Good. Then you knew.
48:39
Yeah, some people. In the UK, you know, for for
48:42
years, like the media, whenever they said like, oh, someone's
48:45
using ketamine, you know, ketamine, the horse
48:48
tranquilizer, like they would, they would always prefix it with
48:51
that. And obviously it has lots of
48:52
different, you know, kind of applications and kind of use
48:56
cases. But yeah, in the British media
48:58
they would always prefix it with Yeah, horse tranquilizer.
49:02
They don't know that as much in America, so they don't prefix it
49:05
as much. So like even in pharmacy school
49:07
when I win, they didn't really say that.
49:09
And so that's always interesting when I interview people, I like
49:11
to hear like what they're saying in different countries because
49:15
it's so interesting in America, they don't program it to the
49:18
horse tranquilizer as often. So it's just like, huh.
49:22
But back to the, you know, making the sell more.
49:25
We're definitely ingrained in more pharmaceuticals here, so.
49:29
Yeah. Actually at Oxford in England
49:32
and enjoyed their take on psychiatric and just the brain
49:37
in general much more than America.
49:39
Yeah, I think I think there's an opening, a more openness, a more
49:44
willingness to kind of learn these kind of things.
49:46
I think, you know, it, it certainly has evolved.
49:50
It it it was quite often like, again, this collective
49:53
generalization, drugs are bad and it's like what all drugs,
49:57
you know, I would met a model that all drugs in every context,
50:00
Like, you know, alcohol is a drug that could be good or bad
50:03
depending on the situation. Caffeine is a drug could be good
50:05
or bad and depending on the situation.
50:06
So yeah, I think it requires more nuance and a bit more
50:10
willingness to kind of ask questions and and be curious
50:13
about these things. Yeah, have you ever read any of
50:17
Doctor Oliver Sacks's work? I haven't I've I've heard people
50:21
mention him but I haven't actually looked into it myself.
50:24
But he was a, he wasn't a hypnotist, but he was a
50:27
psychiatrist and he studied at, I think Cambridge or Oxford.
50:31
I learned him when I was studying at Oxford.
50:33
And he describes from his clinical side, like how people
50:38
start developing different psychiatric disorders or stuff.
50:42
And he started off with a man who mistook his wife for a hat.
50:46
So he started seeing her. Yeah, he started seeing her head
50:50
as a hat, and it was very interesting.
50:51
Well, he goes on in other books called Hallucinations where he
50:55
starts looking at people's hallucinations and seeing like,
51:00
is there validity to him? What's going on?
51:02
Is it like the brain malfunctioning was there, you
51:05
know, cirrhosis or other disease states, dementia causing it.
51:10
And some of them was very, very interesting.
51:12
Seizures was one of the cases that was truly interesting
51:15
because people that have seizures, they usually have
51:19
psychic visions beforehand. And so he went into great detail
51:25
describing patients with seizures having visions and
51:29
different things. And I've had clients that have
51:32
seizures and I have found they go in deeper in hypnosis.
51:36
They actually it's like something with their brain
51:39
wiring. I don't know if you've had any
51:40
clients with seizures, but it's like they're able to switch and
51:45
they just go in quicker into hypnosis.
51:48
It seems so. Well, I mean, there's, there's a
51:50
way of thinking about seizures as kind of ultimate
51:52
disassociation while they're having the seizure.
51:54
They're not, they're not in that kind of conscious kind of awake
51:58
state. So you could look at it in in
52:01
that way that they know how to get to a place of radical
52:04
disassociation. So it could could be that.
52:08
Yeah, that's kind of what I believe now that I'm looking at
52:11
it from the clinical and now that I've as a pharmacist, I
52:13
would, you know, give them their drugs for that and help them
52:16
maintain a lower brain wave state so they didn't go into
52:20
their seizures. But now as a hypnotist, as I'm
52:22
looking at it, I think it's like you said, it's a quick
52:24
dissociation because some of the clients that I've had, they go
52:28
in so deep, they're speaking different languages.
52:33
They'll be like, one of them is like in the day.
52:36
They're, you know, like an accountant, you know, English
52:38
speaking no one, no other languages from the South.
52:41
And then they go so deep into trance, they start speaking
52:45
Hindu from when they were. And you're just like, Oh, my
52:49
goodness, how do you go? But I think, like I said, it's
52:53
something with that rapid dissociation and they're able to
52:57
just access, you know, all these different compartments of their
53:01
brain and utilize things. So yeah, it's very interesting.
53:07
Well, thank you so much. Do you have any other questions
53:09
or any other good cases you'd like to discuss?
53:14
I think the, the one final thing I would add is, you know, we've
53:18
mentioned the podcast a bit if anyone's curious about listening
53:21
to my podcast on any podcast platform.
53:24
So Spotify, Apple, also YouTube. If you look for the hypnotist,
53:30
you should be able to find lots of things there.
53:33
And I think I've published around about 1850 different
53:37
hypnosis sessions. So for anyone listening, they
53:40
can kind of check out that and some people like the explanation
53:45
beforehand. But I've also recently on
53:47
Spotify got a subscriber only version, which means that it's
53:50
just the hypnosis, nothing else. So if people just want to hear
53:53
the hypnosis, that's also available on the platform.
53:56
Wonderful. And you can also catch this
53:58
episode on Spotify and it'll also be on my website,
54:02
igeowellness.com. So yes, so thank you so much
54:05
Adam. I appreciate you.
54:07
This was wonderful and thank you for all that you do and helping
54:11
us, whether it be depression, addiction or energy vampires.
54:15
So thank you so much. I do appreciate it you're.
54:17
More than welcome, it's a pleasure.
54:19
Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me
54:25
on today's episode of The Hypnotist.
54:28
If you've enjoyed this episode or got some value from it,
54:31
please give it a five star rating and review.
54:35
And maybe you know someone that would also benefit from this
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particular episode, in which case share the episode with them
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so they can also get the benefit too.
54:45
And if you would like to listen to this episode where it's just
54:50
the hypnosis, so no intro, no outro, no explanation, just the
54:55
hypnosis and completely ad free, there will be a link in the
54:58
description where you can subscribe at a very low cost and
55:02
only get access to the hypnosis. So if that's of interest, please
55:06
check that out. Thank you again for being a
55:10
regular listener of The Hypnotist and I'll see you again
55:13
soon for more.