Hypnosis is a common skill either used explicitly or implicitly in personal development work and in business. The uses of hypnosis are very widespread. Apart from its use in Hypnotherapy, it can be used to improve health, for pain control, to resolve issues andmake physical changes. Its main areas of use in business are in areas such as sales and motivation where hypnotic language is quite often taught. More interestingly hypnosis is also being used to install NLP™ derived models of excellence during training. This can result in knowledge workers performing more effectively in their jobs.

Hypnosis is used to move a client's state of consciousness to allow effective changes to take place. Hypnosis may take the form of the traditional hypnotist, it may take the form of some sort of dance or music (e.g. in Shamanism or Sufism), it may be achieved by the client as 'self-hypnosis' or may be achieved through natural language (though this takes considerable skill).

Many people, when they think of hypnosis, recall memories of stage hypnotists they have seen, and people running around the stage clucking like chickens. It's ironic that such views distract people from seeing the benefits that hypnosis can bring to sorting out their personal problems - specifically speed and accuracy.

Hypnosis is actually a very common state - if you've ever got lost in a TV programme or book, you were in a trance and it is one that clients quickly feel comfortable with.

Hypnosis works by 'distracting' the conscious mind, so that the hypnotist can communicate with the unconscious more quickly. Typically the process of hypnosis is to distract or confuse the client, suggest that they relax deeper and deeper, and then suggest that the unconscious mind communicates directly with the hypnotist. Depending upon the situation, the hypnotist may suggest positive solutions to help acceptance of any issues that arise. Generally speaking, the client is totally alert during the process (albeit for some issues the conscious may be sent into a 'guided visualisation' to keep it from interfering, which may result in amnesia). The client can return to full consciousness at any time.

Some people are concerned that they might be 'programmed' to do something 'bad' - considerable research has been done in this area and the results show that hypnotic subjects will only ever succumb to suggestions which are within their moral framework and personality - i.e. the client has full control. Another myth of hypnosis is 'susceptibility', the idea that you are easily hypnotized or not. A sufficiently flexible hypnotist will be able to hypnotise anyone.

It is quite easy to learn hypnosis, and if you have a need to improve your interpersonal skills, the learnings of hypnosis (particularly Ericksonian Hypnosis) regarding how we respond to language can be used in everyday life.