Posted in: NLP, Seattle Hypnosis

Another Stop Smoking Success Story

Find your freedom.  Richard did:

“I was a pack a day smoker for almost 40 years. I never thought the day would come I would give up the nasty habit. I saw Connie for 3 sessions and with each one the idea of smoking diminished to the point I have no desire to light up again. Her techniques might seem a little quirky at first but they do serve a purpose and produced a positive result with each session. In all honesty, it’s the best money I ever spent. I’m no longer a smoker. I no longer smell like an ash tray and my health is in recovery. Thank you Connie, you’re awesome!!!” – Richard Dewayne, Lake Stevens, WA.

Another happy client achieves his goals with Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP.  “Best money I ever spent.”  Yes, how much is a longer, healthier life worth?  Priceless.

If you have goals to achieve and aren’t getting there with traditional methods, find out about skilled hypnosis and NLP with us.  Call us at 425-564-8608.  Mindworks Hypnosis Works!

All the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ®
Design Human Engineer ®
Persuasion Engineer ®
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net (clinical hypnotherapy)
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com (licensed career school)

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP

The Garden of Your Mind

Hypnosis directs your thoughts and directs your outcomes.

“Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.” Successful mind patterns make all the difference in life and habits and success. We’ll help you get that success. Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP is the Greater Seattle area’s most effective NLP and hypnotherapy services.

#NLP #garden #mind #hypnosis #hypnotherapy #imagination #success #newhabits #health

Posted in: Hypnosis, Seattle Hypnosis

Fight Coronavirus with Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP

Hi, Hypnosis Friends!

Coronavirus is ramping up. Wouldn’t you like to take control and amp up your own immune system and make it stronger? You can. With hypnosis.

How? We can give unconscious communications to the systems of the body directly via NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming and hypnosis.  We can give positive suggestions of health and wellness, resilience, and a mindset of optimism. The right mindset can help reduce stress in the body, and boost the immune system, increasing resistance to viruses, flu, and colds.  We also help with  pain management and accelerated healing of the body.

Discover what skilled hypnotherapy can do for you: http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net

Ultimately, health and healing comes from within. Medical professionals and their prescribed drugs do what they are able to help, however, one piece of this puzzle called wellness is within the body itself and its own natural functioning.

All the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming®
Originator of Designer Feelings®
Originator of Designer Beliefs®
Design Human Engineer™
Persuasion Engineer™
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
Managing Partner, Mindworks Hypnosis
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

#hypnosis #Seattle #coronavirus #virus #immunesystem #flu #commoncold #immune #health #wellness #hypnotherapy #NLP

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP, Seattle Hypnosis

Why Mindworks Hypnosis to Quit Smoking? Reason #2 – Happy Family

Is your family “on your back” about quit smoking? Why not make them and yourself happy, and find the easy way to quit smoking?  Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP offers private sessions in our hypnotherapy clinic in Bellevue with Connie Brannan, Licensed Trainer of NLP®.  NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the fastest, highest skill set of high-tech hypnosis there is.

When you quit smoking with us, you’re not missing nicotine, you’re feeling whole and natural without it.  What’s a happy family worth?

https://www.mindworkshypnosis.net/services/stop-smoking-hypnosis/benefits-of-quitting-smoking-hypnosis/ Quit Smoking with Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP, we are the Greater Seattle Area’s most effective hypnosis and NLP services. The proof is in the happy, healthy client reports.

All the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming®
Originator of Designer Feelings®
Originator of Designer Beliefs®
Design Human Engineer™
Persuasion Engineer™
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
Managing Partner, Mindworks Hypnosis
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

Posted in: Seattle Hypnosis

Why Mindworks Hypnosis to Quit Smoking? Reason #1 – Your Skin

Smoking wrecks your skin. Quitting smoking will make you look healthier as well as BE healthier.  https://www.mindworkshypnosis.net/services/stop-smoking-hypnosis/benefits-of-quitting-smoking-hypnosis/  Quit Smoking with Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP, we are the Greater Seattle Area’s most effective hypnosis and NLP services.  The proof is in the happy, healthy client reports.

All the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming®
Originator of Designer Feelings®
Originator of Designer Beliefs®
Design Human Engineer™
Persuasion Engineer™
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
Managing Partner, Mindworks Hypnosis
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

Posted in: Hypnosis, Seattle Hypnosis

You’re Never Too Old to Choose Healthy!

“Outstanding! We are making progress. I wish I had done this when I was 20!” — Mary W., Bellevue, WA Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP weight loss client success report. She’s in her 70’s! You are never too old to choose healthy!

I love hearing happy news from my clients.  There’s lots more success stories where that came from:  https://www.mindworkshypnosis.net/hypnosis-results-testimonials-index/

All the Best,
Connie

#healthy #food #manageweight #eatright #nutrition

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP, Seattle Hypnosis

One and Done! Another Nonsmoker after NLP and Hypnotherapy with Mindworks Hypnosis.

Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP Seattle help you quit smoking, end tobacco, and live a healthier life.
Stop smoking now

Hi, Seattle People!

I love it.  One and done.  This happy and successful client, Jon Lawton, from Seattle, quit smoking in one session of my NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming and hypnotherapy.  His last cigarette was last spring, and it’s been months now smoke free.

I wrote and asked him how he’s doing, re:  the smoking cessation.  Here’s what Jon told me:

“Hi, Connie. Thanks so much.  I’m so happy to say that my last cigarette was right before our first session. Thanks to you!!  Yes, I want to work on more things.  I will get a hold of you and we can continue moving forward. Thanks again for Awesome service!!”  — Jon Lawton, Seattle, WA.

Yes, hypnosis done right really works.  Jon knows!  He changed his mind and changed his habits.  And the changes stick!  What habits would you like to stop?  Or begin?  Yes, you can.

Find out more here:  http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net/faq

Healthy and happy go hand in hand.  Jon is happy!  I’m happy for Jon getting healthy.  Quality of life improves when you quit smoking.  And quantity of life as well.  What’s that worth?  Priceless!

Connie Brannan, Licensed Trainer of NLP (tm), Seattle's best hypnotherapistAll the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming®
Originator of Designer Feelings®
Originator of Designer Beliefs®
Design Human Engineer™
Persuasion Engineer™
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
Managing Partner, Mindworks Hypnosis
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

#quitsmoking #stopsmoking #smokingcessation #smokefree #health #breath

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP, Seattle Hypnosis

An End to Anxiety with Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP – Client Success Story

Is anxiety a thing in your life?  It doesn’t have to be.

Hi, Hypnosis Friends!

Anxiety is so unnecessary.  It’s not a given, it’s not a law of nature, it’s not something everybody shares–it’s something learned.  And it can be UNlearned.  That’s what we do at Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP.  Turn off stress, anxiety, and all the problems which flow from that–panic attacks, sleeplessness, stress eating, biting fingernails, abusing alcohol, and so on.  The responses to stress are individualized and learned as well.  Again, habits and patterns of behavior can be UNlearned.  And something new and useful put in its place.

Here is the story of Lisa, in video form.  She was suffering stress and anxiety, and it was affecting food and body weight.  She came to Mindworks Hypnosis and NLP for help.  And she found it!  Here’s her report after Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapy:

“Hi Connie! I want to let u know I am doing simply fantastic!!!! No stress, no anxiety.  I still have 7 pounds or so to go but I’m already down 7 pounds!!! I went to my chiropractor today and he hasn’t seen me in like 3 weeks and he could not believe how calm I was! I said you are a miracle person. He asked me for your info so I gave it to him. He is a really nice guy and he wants to see you for weight loss. Hope he contacts you!!! Thank you thank you thank you! You have changed my life !!!! 😘😘😘” — Lisa, Seattle, WA.

Lisa is happy with the results. We’re sharing her happy. She’s ended anxiety.  Her words:  “No anxiety, no stress.” She’s lost 7 pounds so far (it’s easy when you remove stress eating). Others are noticing the changes in her, as well. She’s in the mindset of success. You can be, too. Learn more, we offer free in office consultations.

We’ve trademarked our proprietary service to remove stress:  it’s called “Designer Feelings.”  No one else does what we do at Mindworks.  Other hypnotists simply don’t come anywhere near to our skill set.  Hypnotherapy should be as individual as you are and we craft and customize everything for your goals.  How would you rather feel?  How would you rather live?

Connie Brannan, Licensed Trainer of NLP (tm), Seattle's best hypnotherapistAll the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming®
Originator of Designer Feelings®
Originator of Designer Beliefs®
Design Human Engineer™
Persuasion Engineer™
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
Managing Partner, Mindworks Hypnosis
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

#hypnosis #NLP #mindfulness #personaldevelopment #anxiety #stress

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP, Seattle Hypnosis

Another 5-Star Yelp Review for Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP

Another Happy Review of Seattle's Best Hypnotherapy and NLP
Another Success Story

Hi, Hypnosis Friends!

Vicki of Bellevue, WA is sharing her success after working with me. She’s healthier, and lighter by 77 pounds in a matter of months.  She wrote a review on the business review site, Yelp. She’s a happy camper. She gives Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP 5-stars, as good as it gets. Here’s what she wrote:

“Vicki M.
Bellevue, WA
5.0 star rating 2/6/2017

In July, 2016 I was hospitalized with blood clots in my lungs. After I got discharged I decided to start taking better care of myself. A friend of mine referred to me Connie. I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. As of today, I have lost 77 pounds. I have been on many different diets over the years, and now I eat what I like but I recognize when I am full. Due to the weight loss it has helped with reducing the clots and an extra plus, I started out in a size 16 and now wear a 6.”

That’s awesome.  A few months of healthier choices, and she’s improved her health dramatically.  Size 16 to a size 6!!  Good job, Vicki.

So, what is this thing called hypnotherapy?  It’s you, finding power and resourcefulness within yourself.  I guide you to it (it’s absolutely there), and you get to use it to accomplish things.  What kind of things?  ANY things.  Weight loss is one, such as Vicki worked. Habit change such as quit smoking or alcohol is one.  Dumping a phobia is one.  Sports improvement is one.  More productivity at work is one.  More confidence in relationships is one.  And so on, the list is endless.

And one change has a way of cascading in the mind into even more healthy and desired changes.  The brain gets excited and says:  “Yay, me!  I’m powerful.  What else shall I do to create more Joy?”

I’m happy when my clients share their success.  In fact, we were just recognized by Yelp as one of the highest reviewed businesses in 2016.  That’s right.  When you find what you are passionate about and love to do (I did) and you are good at it (I am), well that’s joy for me.  Hypnosis is my joy.  I’d love to share it with you, anytime.

Call me at 425-564-8608 and we’ll set up a free consultation meeting.

Connie Brannan, Licensed Trainer of NLP (tm), Seattle's best hypnotherapistAll the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Clinical Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming®
Originator of Designer Feelings®
Originator of Designer Beliefs®
Design Human Engineer™
Persuasion Engineer™
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
Managing Partner, Mindworks Hypnosis
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings, Seattle Hypnosis

My Weight Loss Success – Feel Great and Lose Weight

Happy with hypnosis Weight Loss Success
Do you like what you see when you look in the mirror?

Hi, Hypnosis Friends!

Today I want to share a weight loss success story.  There are many, many client success stories on my Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP website of all varieties (over 180 at last count), and many, many weight loss success stories in particular.

This one is different.  This one is me.

I have a lot of new readers to my blog and I’d like to share my story again.  One of the things that makes me different from other hypnotists in the area is my confidence, my absolute knowing that hypnosis works to change anything.  That includes habits, health, energy, body size and shape.  How do I know?  I live that success.

That picture up above is me, taken today.  It’s not vanity to do my “selfies,” it’s how I measure weight loss success.  I don’t get on the scale.  I measure success by how I feel and how I look.  How my clothes fit me.  I’m wearing clothes half the size.  I measure success by how much energy I have, walking, climbing stairs, and so on.  I especially like to compare my face to how I used to look, several years ago, before I started using hypnosis & NLP for weight loss. Here is a pic of my face from 2005:

Overweight is a health concern.

Do I look different to you?

I grew up as a child with weight issues and most of my adult life as well.  I know the ins and outs of unhealthy habits and negative thinking, and what drives changes in weight, both up and down.  I know about diets of all varieties, starvation and otherwise. And because I am so intimately conversant in all this, I can help you!  I KNOW how to lose weight and keep it off for years!  I’m doing it.  And I know how to help you to be successful as well.

How do we do this with Neuro Linguistic Hypnotherapy®?  When I work one on one with my hypnosis weight loss clients, we address everything, including habits, emotions, and beliefs!  We tweak anything and everything that needs changing in you to help you be successful.  We work on:  overeating, food choices, sugar addiction, carbs, emotional eating, stress eating, bored eating, celebration eating, alcohol consumption, speed of eating, mindless eating, not drinking enough water, etc.  We pump up motivation to exercise.  We remove any limiting beliefs that might hinder your success. And, most importantly of all, we improve your self image.  All this changes how you feel, and how you act in the world.

I help you to see yourself as vibrant, happy, and enthused with life, an active person who chooses healthy.  And you become that person.  When I was very young, there was a popular expression:  “what you see is what you get.” Well, it turns out that that is true, as it applies to what you see in your own mind about your own life.

I’ve found the secret to weight loss.  Here it is, in a nutshell.  People think, when I lose weight, then I will have earned the right to feel good and like myself.  I’ll be feeling energetic, proud, confident, sexy, in control, high self esteem, joyous, and so on.

That’s backwards.  It’s not lose weight and feel great.  It’s FEEL GREAT AND LOSE WEIGHT.  In that order.

Once you start feeling better now, with all those good emotions rolling in you (even before you’ve “earned” them), your body begins changing automatically.  With my work, we bring and attach a custom blend of good feelings to your now.  And here comes the weight loss. Patterns shift.  Eating changes.  Easy.  If you check out the many video testimonials of success on my websites, you’ll notice a common theme:  “I feel so good.  And it’s so surprisingly easy to lose weight.”  Those two things are connected, and in the proper order.

I know this is true.  Look at my face.  I’ve done it.  And I am doing it.  One of the big issues people face is regaining weight.  Yo-yo dieting, it’s called.  Well, I’ve been a lighter weight for 10 years now.  Long term!  When you’re focused on healthy and feeling good, that’s just the way it is and how you live.  I help you focus.  And maintain focus.  I give you tools to take home to maintain success long term.

What would you think of a hypnotist who is obese telling you they can help you to lose weight?   If they could, why don’t they do it for themselves?  What would you think of a timid, self-doubt-ridden hypnotist telling you they can increase your confidence?  If they could, why don’t they do it for themselves?  What would you think of a physician who is a chain smoker telling you to lay off the cigarettes?  There’s something called “congruency” and it’s important in life and in business.  I just call it “walking the talk.”

Hypnosis and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming–a high tech conversational hypnosis) are the tools that we work with to get you from A to B.  If A is overweight and B is looking in the mirror and smiling with pleasure and success at the healthier face looking back, I can help.  Let’s do it!

Connie Brannan, CHt. & Licensed Trainer of NLP (tm) Mindworks Hypnosis
Connie Brannan, CHt. & Licensed Trainer of NLP ™

All the Best,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ®
Design Human Engineer ™
Persuasion Engineer ™
Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist
Managing Partner, Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.loseweightseattle.com
http://www.stopsmokingseattle.com
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

 

All material herein is © Copyright Connie Brannan, 2016.  All rights reserved.

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP, Seattle Hypnosis

It’s Time! Hypnosis for your New Year’s Resolutions!

Seattle's Best Hypnotherapy at Mindworks Hypnosis & NLP
Time for Skilled Hypnosis & NLP!

Hi, Hypnosis Friends!

Did you see the New Year’s fireworks celebration at the Seattle Space Needle?  I did!  It’s officially here, happy 2015!

“It’s time!”

Those are action activating words for me, and I hope for you as well. It’s time.

It’s the first week of January.  Time for assessing the new year ahead and taking stock of healthy goals. It’s time to lose that extra weight you’ve been carrying around.  It’s time to stop buying and smoking those ridiculously expensive and unhealthy cigarettes.

It’s time to dump the fear that’s been holding you back from truly experiencing and enjoying life and connecting with others:  fear of public speaking, fear of flying, fear of rejection…(you fill in the blank).  Fear is often unnecessary, and we can communicate that fact to the mind, on unconscious levels, and choose something different.

People tend to work those New Year’s Resolutions for a a day or two, a week or two, then give up.  You don’t have to go it alone when there is skilled help available.

I love what I do.  I help activate people’s desires and make them real.  My work (hypnosis and NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming® ) is a joy-maker and a success-maker.  This time of year, people are very in touch with those desires–we call them New Year’s Resolutions.  Let’s make them real.  Call me and I’ll set up a free in person consultation in my office in Bellevue to explain the work I do and how your dreams CAN become reality.  (425) 564-8608.

Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapy is more powerful than “traditional” hypnotherapy alone. NLP is a conversational hypnosis that speaks directly to the mind beyond conscious thought, using the currency of life experience:  sights, sounds, smells, taste, emotion, and it’s an amazing success accelerant.  NLP is my prime work tool, as I am and Michael is also, a Licensed Trainer of NLP ® through the originator of NLP. There are only a few dozen of us at that skill & certification level working and teaching NLP in the United States.

Tick.  Tick.  Tick.  Time is moving.  And life is happening.  If you want yours to be different in positive ways that you have resolved, the time is now.

All the Best,
Connie

http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

Posted in: Hypnosis

World Hypnotism Day 1/28 – Thank You to Attendees!

Hi, Guys!

Michael and I attended the festivities today in Bellevue around our state’s National Guild of Hypnotists’ chapter’s World Hypnotism Day events.  Michael and I were financial sponsors of the event as well as participants.  Michael gave free public talks on getting over PTSD, and another on the Magic of Instant Change, and a class for professional hypnotists on hypnotic “inductions.”  (Bringing someone into hypnosis.)  He also manned a Q&A panel to answer questions re:  hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

I gave a free talk on Smoking Cessation, as well as a paid course for professionals on how to bring a resource state into a problem state and dissolve the problem state — Advanced techniques of NLP Anchoring.

It was a long day, but FUN!  Thank you to all who attended, and we hope you learned more about the power of your own minds.

World Hypnotism Day is an event to promote the understanding of hypnosis as a healing art–I think that we met that challenge today.  🙂  For more local events, keep your eyes on my “events page” at the top of this blog.  Hypnosis is something to be celebrated all year long, not just one day.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

“I don’t crave ice cream at all now. I am in shock!!!”

Hi, Hypno Friends!

I received some more feedback today, another happy testimonial from another happy client.  She had come in for help with weight loss.   Here’s what she had to say about her ice cream and chocolate cravings after experiencing a single session of Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapy with me:

“I don’t crave ice cream at all now!  Or chocolate.  I am in shock!!!”  She goes on to explain how people around her are noticing the positive difference in her.  “I’m smiling all the time.  People think that I am in love!  But I am not!  Absolutely not in love, I just feel GREAT.  I believe that it’s the hypnosis!!” Saliha B., Issaquah, WA.

She’s right!  What I’m hoping people can learn from this is that hypnosis helps.  Not just in re-shaping and sculpting the body, but in changing your life.  When the positive changes start rolling, it affects everything, reaches fingers into everything.  It’s about changing your very experience of life, not only improving how you look, but improving how you feel, and how you think, and what you do all at the same time.  Improving your outlook, your energy, your confidence.  Your healthy and happy.  All good.

Saliha IS in love, by the way.  With herself.  That’s the difference.  When you feel good about yourself, you make better choices. We custom blended a new feeling for her, a mixture of confident, happy, optimistic and healthy.  Feeling that way changed everything for her.

Do you want a taste of happy like Saliha?  It’s so much more palatable than chocolate.  Hypnosis works for weight management.  Call me.  Connie:  (425) 564-8608.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, NLP

Drive Your Own Bus

NLP is the real deal for life change.
NLP is the real deal for life change.

Hi, Hypno-Friends, Enthusiasts, & Interested Parties!

There’s still a few seats available for Michael’s and my “Power of Mind” Workshop we’re offering.  It’s happening this Saturday, July 16.  More info:

https://mindworkshypnosis.net/hypnotizer/?p=1578

and http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

It’s a driving school.  Not about motor vehicles.  It’s about LIVES.  Your life! About running your life the way you want.  Taking control.  The King of NLP, and my teacher, Dr. Richard Bandler, calls learning and using NLP “Driving your own bus.”  Yes, I do.  Perhaps, you want to, too! 🙂

This powerful seminar/workshop focuses on using NLP for self development and life success.  NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) can be described as an amalgam of linguistics and hypnosis, and is based on the study of human excellence.  If it weren’t already taken, the slogan for NLP could be:  “Be all that you can be.”  Yes, you can.  We’ll help you, as you learn and experience powerful subconscious communication tools and techniques you can use immediately to increase personal satisfaction, self confidence, influence and power.  Eliminate undesirable habits!  Program in more useful ones.  Control your emotional states and more!

It’s not fluff.  It’s not hype.  It’s REAL.  The testimonials on my website (and there are dozens upon dozens) are because I incorporate NLP into my therapy work.  In one of the video testimonials we received, a woman says:  “Everyone should be required to learn this (NLP) at an early age.  It would make the world such a better place.”  I absolutely agree.

If you want in for a one-day workshop showcasing NLP and more about hypnosis in general, too…join us!  Remember that old airline slogan, “We love to fly, and it shows.”  Well, We love NLP, and it shows.

Warm Regards,
Connie & Michael

Michael and Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotists, Licensed Trainers of NLP (tm), Design Human Engineers (tm), and more!
Michael and Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotists, Licensed Trainers of NLP (tm), Design Human Engineers (tm), and more!
Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP

A Touch of Calm!

Hi, Hypno-Friends!

I hope you’re having some happy holidays, and more to come!  Wishing you and yours a fun and glorious 2011.  Resolve to enjoy life more and more every day.  I’m about to share with you all a simple technique that is the backbone and my favorite “magic” of NLP–something which drives home like a jackhammer the idea that you control your own life, mind and body.   Specifically, I’m going to share with you a touch of calm, for the holidays! 

NLPLOGONLP is Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™, a term coined by my teacher, Dr. Richard Bandler.  It’s a way of understanding the world and how we create reality.  And can change it.  It’s about enhancing communication, inside ourselves and with others.  For more info on what it is and the myriad of powerful and wonderful uses of NLP, you can check out my primary NLP website:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.

How would you like to communicate to your own mind:  “It’s time to relax!”  And have it actually happen in your body in an instant?  (Your wish is my command!)  Wouldn’t that be especially useful this time of year, with all the turbulence of wild weather, traffic, ice, work demands, family and extended family, parties, gift shopping, holidays, STRESS?

Here it is!  It’s called an “anchor” in NLP parlance.  It’s a stimulus-response mechanism, which we can capture and activate at will.  With intention.  So many times we are stimulated to a response (one we don’t particularly want or enjoy) by living and events.  Examples:  Your significant other starts using THAT critical tone of voice, and your body temperature rises.  You see a chocolate bar and the cravings kick in.  You smell popcorn, and you know you NEED a bucket.  How nice to create a stimulus-response in ourselves that we like.  And use it for…A Touch of Calm.  Apply as needed. 

Here’s a technique for you. 

Begin to remember a time in your life when you felt calm.  I mean REALLY calm.  Relaxed, with clarity of mind.  In that precise moment of time, nothing could ruffle your feathers.  Pick a memory from anywhere and anytime in your life, in any context, from childhood,  to adulthood.  In the hot tub, snuggled in bed, on the beach in Hawaii, in hypnotic trance, jogging, it doesn’t matter.  Let your mind remember CALM.  Now, put  yourself inside that memory, that experience.  Be there now!

Experience it.  What’s going on?  How do you feel?  What do you see?  What do you hear?  What do you smell?  Involve all your senses, fully and completely.  Let calm grow in you.  Feel  calm moving in your body.  Flow it, grow it.  Stronger.  When calm is just about at its peak, and you’re feeling really good, touch the tips of your thumb and ring finger of your left hand together and hold for one second.  Let go.  Think about something else for a moment or two, some neutral thing, and then imagine yourself again inside the calm memory.  Feel it.  Breathe it.  Once again, flow calm through every nerve and fiber of your body.  When you feel good and calm, touch the thumb and fingertip again.  Hold for a second, and let go.  This unique touch is now associated (anchored) with calm.  This touch will elicit calm!  In your body.  Forever.  Just that fast, you’ve trained your mind/body to do that!  How cool is that?  This is why Michael and I call NLP “The Magic of Instant Change.”

Now, whenever you want a dose of calm to flood your body, touch that same thumb and finger together and hold it (for a minute or so) in the way you’ve just anchored, and feel calm return.  Automatically!  Feeling stressed by Aunt Sue’s conversation at the party?  Touch and hold.  🙂  Stuck in mall traffic and beginning to grit your teeth?  Touch and hold.  Standing in an endless line at the supermarket and feeling irritated?  Touch and hold.  Joe at work pushing your buttons?  Push your own.  You now are armed with “a touch of calm” for the holidays.  And any time.  Enjoy!

Warm Regards,

Connie

Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist

Do you like this tip?  There’s more to be had, by signing up for our FREE monthly e-newsletter.

 

Get Tranced!
Email:


 

Posted in: Hypnosis

Positive Self-Talk in Action

Enjoy this short video.  It is VERY cute!  Here’s someone demonstrating confidence and positive self-talk and focusing on what’s good in her life (“what I like”).  What a terrific way to feel good and do good.  “I can do anything good!  Better than anyone.”  🙂

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s a good time to pause and reflect on all the wonderful and positive people and things and happy events in our lives.  Remember, what you focus on expands, so here’s to MORE of that (the good things) for you in the days and weeks and months to come!

Warm Regards,
Connie & Michael

Posted in: Hypnosis

The Devil and James Bond

 

The other day Michael and I were driving, and I noticed the car ahead of me.  I said:  “There’s James Bond.”  (My sister had dated James Bond for awhile, but that’s another story.  🙂 )  The license plate number featured a familiar trio of numbers in it:  007.  Also, in the hot, red Ferrari next to me was the devil (or one of his henchmen) driving…that car featured 666.  Amusing?  Perhaps.  But WHY did those ideas pop into my mind…James Bond and the Devil?  I’ll tell you why!

Because our unconscious minds are amazing meaning-seeking devices.  Continuously looking for patterns!  And finding them.  You and me and each one of us, we are masters of pattern recognition.  It’s how we learn, and how we survive.  How we learn to recognize mom’s face as infants in the pixels of color dancing before our eyes, family, friends, a place of comfort, and how we learn to recognize danger as well.  THAT MEANS THIS.  That red and white octagon means lift my foot from the accelerator and move it to the de-accelerator.  Now!  So I don’t run into the tail end of James Bond.

The mind loves to take what might appear to be random chaos, and attach meaning.  Stars in the night sky, for instance.  Constellations.  To early astronomers, and to us, these are not just scattered blinking lights, these are mythological creatures with names and personalities, codified and recognized, parading across the sky.

I was in in Oregon giving a hypnosis talk a few weeks ago, and I saw my cousin Eddie’s face in the hotel bathroom wallpaper.  He was THERE, I tell you.  His exact profile.  His mouth, his nose, which is absolutely distinctive and recognizable!  Right next to the white rabbit.  Random shapes become patterns, with meaning.  We don’t struggle to make these associations happen, they just do! 

I invite you to read these sentences:

” Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.”

Your mind is effortlessly unscrambling the scramble.  🙂  Because our unconscious minds make sense out of non-sense.  And that’s a good thing!  And a useful thing.

 When it comes to problem solving, it’s massively useful.  When we’re feeling stuck/trapped/locked into a box of limited options (none of which may be appealing), our conscious mind is not much help.  It scours the box.  The solution to the problem is not there, in the conscious box.  It’s out there.  Somewhere else.  When we tap into the unconscious part of our mind, we are looking in a far, far, far broader spectrum, outside that box.  Somewhere else.  Everywhere else.  At everything.   And answers (meaning) are there in the larger jumble.  Our unconscious minds can and do find it.  And this changes everything and dissolves the box.

That’s what hypnosis is about, and how it is useful.  It’s a doorway into tapping into the massive pattern recognition and problem solving abilities of the unconscious mind.

In the news recently, a lady on the television game show “Wheel of Fortune” solved a 27 letter puzzle with only one letter showing, and 26 letters hidden.  Her mind, her unconscious mind, took the information available (how many words in the puzzle phrase and how many letters per word and another letter she knew was NOT there) and scoured the universe for meaning.  What English common phrase fits that criteria?  And, she found it!  Instantly, it seemed!  “I’ve got a good feeling about this.”  Her unconscious mind fed it to her conscious mind.  To those of you who viewed the footage of this amazing problem-solving feat, it did seem miraculous, did it not?  It wasn’t a miracle, it was simply her mind being good at what we all do.  Make sense and attach meaning.  In this case it was useful–she won a $6,000 trip to the Caribbean.

Not just this lady, I think we all should give a great big “THANK YOU, UNCONSCIOUS MIND!” shout out to our unconscious minds.  They keep us alive and thriving, and do solve life’s dilemmas when we get our conscious, linear thinking out of the way long enough for the useful and helpful patterns to reveal themselves.

If you’re interested in learning more about hypnosis and how to tap and direct this power within your own minds, I encourage you to check out:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.  One of the ways that Michael and I share our passion is through teaching hypnosis and NLP (which is a super duper high tech hypnosis). 

Warm Regards,

Connie

Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Posted in: Hypnosis

“I’m Sick and Tired”

My niece is on Facebook.  So am I.  I noticed her post today:  “I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired.”  I gave my Auntie Hypnotist unsolicited advice.  STOP IT!  Stop telling yourself TO be sick.  And that’s exactly what she is doing.  I told her:  “Hypno Hint: stop telling yourself that you’re sick and tired. Your brain hears you focusing on that (sick and tired) and says, “OK, I can do that!” It thinks that’s what you want, and your unconscious mind is VERY accommodating. How would you rather feel? Healthy? Energetic? Focus on that.”

 

It’s called “organ language.”  When you give your body instructions as to how to feel, your unconscious mind is listening attentively.  And does what you suggest.  Creates what you want.  Or, what it thinks you want.  Your unconscious mind is super literal.  What you focus on expands, or, expressed differently, you get what you think about.

“That makes me sick!”   You’re focusing on sick.  You’re telling yourself to get sick.  Direct language:  “make me sick.”  Don’t do that!!  “He gives me a pain in the neck, he’s a pain in the behind.”  You are telling yourself to have pain.  Don’t do that!!  “She makes me so mad I can’t see straight.”  You’re telling yourself to have vision problems.  “He makes my blood boil.”  You’re asking for high blood pressure.  Your mind/body can do that.   And will!  When you focus on illness “I’m sick and tired” your mind/body says, well, OK, if that’s what you want…I’ll get it for you!  Apparently, my niece is a very persuasive hypnotist inside herself.  It’s just time to change the hypnotic suggestion.

Hypno tip of the day:  Focus on the flip side of illness and physical distress in your language to self.  My first hypnosis teacher joked about upsetting situations:  “Well, that just UPS my metabolism.”  Could be useful!  🙂  What do you want?  Focus on healthy.  DO NOT tell yourself “it’s cold and flu season.”  That’s a suggestion to get ill.  “It’s healthy time!  I feel so good.  I always stay healthy.  That’s right!”  Listen to yourself and notice if/when you give yourself negative suggestions of pain and discomfort and illness which instructs your body to focus on and manifest more of that.  And then stop it, and think of what you’d rather feel.  Something good, I mean!

It couldn’t hurt.  Just do it!

Warm Regards,
Connie (who has only had one cold in 5 years)

Posted in: Hypnosis

“And I don’t want YAMS!”

I had a crazy dream last night. My husband, Michael, and I were sitting in a restaurant, going out for dinner. There was a party of several people at a table next to us, engaged in a project, making quite a bit of noise. So we watched.

It was a project of intense thought and concentrated effort. The waitress was waiting to take their order. Instead of ordering, they had a large whiteboard standing on a frame and a person standing beside it writing on it. She was making a list, and checking it more than twice. The items on the list? What each person didn’t want for dinner that night. They would shout it out, randomly, as it occurred to them, and it got added to the communal list. The whiteboard person would write it all down. One girl shouted: “And I don’t want YAMS!” “yams” would appear on the board. The list was getting quite long. “I don’t want scrambled eggs with peanut butter on top.”

It occurred to me (in my dream) that this project was quite stupid. You walk into a restaurant. Rather than order what you do want from the menu, you’re creating your own menu, of what you DON’T want. How useful is that, if your goal is to eat something for dinner right now? I think the waitress wandered away, probably bored.

Crazy, right? Never happen in a million years, right? But this is precisely how so many people’s minds operate in the wide awake, day-to-day, “real world.” They focus on what they don’t want. That’s not going to move you forward. A shift of focus is called for, a shift to the postive. What DO you want? How would you rather feel? What would you rather do?

I had a client come in last night with a plethora of fears. A litany of fears. Being alone, the dark, airplanes, and more, creating panic attacks. I asked her how she would rather feel. She couldn’t answer that, she was so mired in what she currently feels and doesn’t want. Calm is not on the menu. Only fear. We’ve got to put calm and safe and happy on the menu. Then she can order it, and enjoy it!

What hypnosis does is focus your mind on positive change, and a desired outcome, in a way which stirs the magic of the universe (how’s that for technical jargon?) to actually creating that positive change. It IS magic. But you’ve got to know what you DO want in order to get there. I’ll help you make those shifts.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

A Chance to Trance – Quit Smoking @ Bellevue College

Bellevue College offers adult continuing education.
Bellevue College offers adult continuing education.

Hi, Guys!

It’s interesting.  I’m offering a couple courses at Bellevue College this autumn.  One is Healthy Hypnosis:  Let Go of Weight and it’s filling up like gangbusters.  The other is Quit Smoking With Self Hypnosis, and there’s less interest in it, apparently.  I find that surprising!   This (self hypnosis) is SUCH a powerful tool for habit change, and the number one habit in the universe which should and can be changed easily is smoking.  As in, don’t do it.  Ever.   And so many people profess to want that!  I can help.  These tools offer massive help, which I share in my class.  The how-to!

All hypnosis is self hypnosis, even the guided work I do in my office with clients.  This course is even bigger than that.  It’s like the old saying.  Give a guy a fish, and he’s got a fish.  For dinner tonight.  That’s nice.   TEACH a guy to fish, and he’s got fish forever.  Bring on the tartar sauce!  🙂  That’s wonderful.  I want to teach you how to fish for change.  The course title is about one particular habit:  Smoking!  But it can be used for so much more than that.  And I want my students to use it for so much more than that.  Hypnosis is a life-changer, a life-enhancer, beyond quantification, really.

Here’s a chance.  Your chance. LEARN.  Grow.  Thrive.  It’s what I want for you, and I know it’s what you want for yourself.  It’s a chance to trance.  I wrote this in an earlier blog entry and you know, it’s so true that it bears repeating.  I said:  “The unconscious mind is the good guy—for all of us. The part of us that keeps us alive, breathing, blood flowing, healing, storehouses our learning, wants us to grow and thrive and be happy and healthy and successful.”  Yes!   In hypnosis, that’s what we do, converse with this part of ourselves, and improve the quality of our lives through these conversations.  Wouldn’t that ability be worth something to you?  To anyone?

There are still seats available in my self hypnosis courses at Bellevue College this autumn, where I share these tools of “mindwork.”  Here are the direct sign up links.

Quit Smoking With Self Hypnosis.  This takes you to Bellevue College’s webpage, course description, and shopping cart.  As always, if you want more information, you can contact me directly via the info. on my main webpage.  🙂
http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=12481&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

Healthy Hypnosis, Let Go of Weight. 
http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=11559&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

Quit Smoking With Self Hypnosis begins this month, September 27 and continues the following week on October 4th.  Do you have something better to do on a couple Monday nights than improve your life dramatically?

If I do say so myself the course is a lot of fun.  It spans the course of one week, and two evenings.  Six hours total.  VERY hands on.  Your mind grows.  Visually, and on the inside, too!  🙂  You will be hypnotized.  Repeatedly.  And learn to do it for yourself.  And learn what to do and how to communicate to yourself in that state of mind which makes the difference in your habits and your life.  You learn about language of influence.  You learn about how the mind works.  You learn the truth about hypnosis.  It’s all good, and it’s all useful.  I do hope some more of you will join me.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Musings

Honing Skills on my Birthday Month

I like words. I like learning them, hearing them, using them. Words are “my thing” (which is terrific for a hypnotist). And they always have been my thing. Soon, I’ll be “honing.” My skills in hypnosis & NLP.  My tools, my abililty to HELP.  My FUN.  Honing. Sharpening. Making better. I also like dictionary.com. 🙂 “To make more acute, intense or effective; improve; perfect: to hone one’s skills.” Absolutely!  🙂  It also means “To move or advance toward a target or goal.” Hone in.

I’m doing both!

Because here’s what I’m honing towards, here’s what I want. To be the absolute best changeworker and hypnotist/hypnotherapist possible. I already am the best in the Pacific Northwest, but the world’s a big place. I want to be one of the absolute best in the universe. So, I’m continuing my education, and studying with and learning from the best of the best. Modeling genius. It’s time intensive, it’s money intensive, it takes committment. But I’m doing it! Michael and I both!

We’re off for a couple weeks of more hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming trainings. In Orlando, Florida, with the co-originator of NLP, and in my opinion, the best hypnotist living, Dr. Richard Bandler. We go where the geniuses perform/teach and it’s not always nearby. We’re doing it! It’s my joy, my passion, as well as my comittment to honing!  It’s also my birthday present to myself!  (I’m a July baby!)

A committment to excellence.  That’s a good thing!  🙂  I’m on Facebook (you can be my friend), and recently noticed an example of a differing attitude.  A fellow hypnotist and NLP-er posted on one of my teachers’ pages whining (or so it appeared to me) that her training certification, the actual certificate she earned from him had an expiration date on it.  Why, she asked.  The answer is simple.  Hypnosis and NLP is not something you learn once, and wham, done.  I guess some people do approach a profession this way.  “I know how to cut that piece of brick.  I’m done.”  Not me.  No way, Jose.  That certificate is only the beginning.

For me, learning is a never-ending unfolding process, and I’m ALWAYS desirous of improving my skills.   One can ALWAYS be better.  Sharper.  More inspired.  In the realm of the mind, there’s no hard and fast, “this is it.”  There are more things to LEARN!  When you bring in native intelligence and a passion for and committment to what you’re doing, and add the continued exposure to excellence, the continued honing (of something absolutely worth honing), you get someone who knows what they’re doing.

I know what I’m doing.  And that means I can help you better, faster, more efficiently, more creatively than other people can.  If you really want change, I certainly think you should seek out the best for that.  Aren’t you worth it? Another wonderful mentor/teacher of mine said to me once:  “It ain’t bragging, if it’s true.”  I’m not bragging.  I am extremely talented at this work, this art, and getting better all the time.

I hope to post here from Orlando and the trainings!   Michael and I send warm (upper 90’s) greetings!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

Bellevue College – Building Confidence through Self Hypnosis! starts 6/7/10 (Bring a pillow!)

Learn Hypnosis at Bellevue College
Learn Hypnosis at Bellevue College

Hi, Hypnotic Enthusiasts!

Watch this! 🙂

This brief, and I mean BRIEF video gives you an overview of everything you need to know if you’d like to come on over to Bellevue and learn something life changing.  That, plus this sign up link, of course!  :

http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=11562&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

I’m offering a “taster course” in the power of your mind.  2 evenings, for 3 hours each.  To learn self hypnosis from me, to experience hypnosis, to learn how to craft well-formed outcomes, to empower you to change your mind and change your life.  The focus of this course is Confidence, but these tools can truly be used for so many things, habit change, weight management, stress release, and more!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

So, what does “trance” feel like?

The hypnotic trance chair awaits you!
The hypnotic trance chair awaits you!

Hi, again, Hypno Friends!

I found this pillow at Ross, and you know, I HAD to have it!  It’s got that spiral design I like, which you may have noticed on my website as well.  It’s an “old-time hypnosis” symbol.  To me, it’s fun.  I call it:  Hypno-wheel.

So, this is the Hypno-wheel Pillow, sitting on the Trance Chair, my leather recliner, in my office in Bellevue.  It’s waiting for you!  You don’t actually sit ON the pillow, I move it when we get down to business, it’s really for “ambiance!”  🙂  The symbol also means “infinity.”

And that makes great sense to me…as hypnosis is an ancient art.  In the time of the Egytians, they had healing “sleep temples” where hypnosis was practiced.  Hypnosis and healing, that connection has long been known.   Hypnosis has been written about by well-known psychologists of the 1800’s, including William James.  In India in the 19th century, hypnosis was used on the battlefield to help with necessary amputations–without anesthesia, without pain.

Hypnosis is not new.  But, there’s a growing awareness and acceptance in the world for hypnosis as a mainstream healing art and science, which I find wonderful.   Holly-weird has done it’s best to create fear and a negative mystique surrounding hypnosis, but the truth has a way of coming out.   And the truth about hypnosis is wonderful.  What it can do for a person, and the pleasant nature of the experience itself.

Here are some actual quotations from my clients upon emerging from trance and commenting on the experience:  “That was delightful.”  (Gene, Mercer Island)  “Wow!!”  (Monica, Bellevue, and dozens and dozens of others–this is the most common response)  “Better than sex.”  (Andy, Seattle)   “I loved it!”  (Michael, Bellevue)  “That was amazing!”  (Jennifer, Kirkland)…   Some people are speechless, but the grateful smiles on their faces speak volumes.

When you’re in trance, in hypnosis, you are connecting to the best part of yourself.  That part of you that wants success and fulfillment and thriving and good feelings!  The part of you that can make those things reality. 

So, what does trance feel like?  In general, and for me personally, a  sense of well-being permeates trance, and stress packs its bags.  People do experience it differently.  To some, it’s very very similar to their natural waking state.  To some, it’s “otherworldly” and beyond words.  Some people find their limbs turning so heavy, heavy relaxed, so comfortable that they don’t want to move.  Some people feel light and floating, as though disconnected to their physical bodies.  Some people feel warmth and tinglings.  Some people get cold.  (I also offer “the dream blanket” during trancework.)  It has also been likened to those transitional moments before sleep. 

We experience trance every day of our lives, doing everyday, just-living-our-lives things.  Reading a book, playing on the computer, driving a car, daydreaming, watching television.   It’s nothing “woo-woo,” and it’s nothing bizarre.  It’s just us, activating our minds in a specific, natural way.  What’s cool, what’s magical, is how we can use this “hypnosis state of mind” to create change in ourselves and in our lives.  When you apply hypnosis, for a desired outcome, guided by a professional, that’s what is called hypnotherapy.  That’s what I do.

So, if you’re still wondering:  “What does trance feel like?  And what can it do for me?”  I’d like to show you.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

Spring!

It's spring in Seattle!
It's spring in Seattle!

I often use a lot of nature imagery with clients, it’s so easy to do and something we all experience and understand well – the changing of the seasons.  Spring in particular is perfect for a hypnotic metaphor.  It’s “new life,” it’s “new beginnings,”  it’s “change,” it’s “freshness,” it’s “growth,” it’s “color,” it’s full of promise and opportunity, it’s magnificent.  And it’s happening NOW.  Just like we want your own life changes to be doing.  Happening now.  Right now!  It’s time.

Michael and I were in rainy and cold Florida for two weeks getting our minds stuffed full of useful new hypnosis and NLP tools.  We both have two new certificates to add to the “I love me” wall:  per the King of hypnosis, Dr. Richard Bandler, we are now “Design Human Engineers,” and “Persuasion Engineers.”  TM (trademark) on both.  🙂  It’s interesting that the more STUFF I learn, the more tools I acquire and add to my healing toolbelt, the lighter it gets.  The lighter I feel.  These aren’t like hammers and anvils weighing me down, these are tools to LIFT and enhance life.  More!  And fine tools they are, for fine tuning life.

So, we arrived home to discover that spring has sprung.  How nice!  The trees outside my office window are blooming now, providing the perfect metaphor for the unconscious minds of my clients!

You don’t have to drive through the University of Washington Arboretum or walk through the cherry-blossom quad on campus to see some fresh blooming life, you can look in the mirror.  After seeing me, of course.  I’m ready.  Are you?

Warm Spring Regards,
Connie

Posted in: NLP

Fear not

www.mindworkshypnosis.net to end fearHi, guys!

Lately, I’ve been thinking about fear.  And how unneccessary it is.  To feel it.  I had a spider phobia for a LONG time, long long long time.  Decades.  (I don’t really want to advertise how old I am, but I know precisely when and where I learned to be afraid of spiders–I was grade school age, probably around 7, at the bus stop on Mercer Island, off of 72nd street–while talking to a girl named Paige.)  It was a one-shot learning.  And, as I discovered a few years ago,  it can be unlearned just as quickly.

I was telling a story to Paige.  Not a nice story.  It was about spiders.  I was trying to scare HER.  With words.  And somehow, I scared myself so thoroughly and horrifically, that it STUCK.  I suppose that’s justice!  I was terrified of spiders for more than 30 years.  Seeing a spider would set me OFF–body recoiling, heart pounding, adrenalin pumping, an involuntary gasp or scream or two, and so on.  But not only that–I lived “on alert” for spiders.  Anytime I would enter a room, any room, but primarily bathrooms, I’d scan, the floor, the walls, the crevices, looking for danger.  Looking for spiders.   Any spider, regardless of size, would set off the same phobic response in me, even microscopic spiders.  If I’d see a speck or dot across the room on the wall, I’d have to wonder and worry:  “Is that a spider?”

I had what my hubby came to call “bug radar.”  If a spider was anywhere near, I’d know it.  And, freak out!

To lessen the tension of this horrific story about how I was tortured for decades with fear–let me tell a more pleasant spider anecdote!  When I first started dating my future hubby, I had an apartment.  He had an apartment.  Neither of us had cars.  One night, I was getting ready for bed, and found–horrors!!–a spider in my bathtub.  What to do?  I could not, no way, no how, just go to bed knowing a spider was around.  Nor could I touch it, or go near it.  I was distraught.  I called Michael.  That sweet man took a city bus across town (probably more than 1 bus) to come save me that night.  When he did that, I knew it was LOVE!   Then and there I decided to keep him, forever, and I am.  29 years and counting!!  🙂

So, anyway, everyone knew about my spider “thing” and some people laughed at me about it.  Like my mother.  We went camping and a spider was crawling up her leg at one point in one of those open-air-bathrooms in the woods.  She laughed, thinking how I would scream.  Yes, I would have.  I didn’t see or know any way out of this FEAR.  Yes, I knew it was unreasonable, spiders are tiny, I wasn’t, and yes, I could stomp the living daylights out of them, but that did not lessen the FEAR.  The panic response in my body.  The conscious mind wasn’t in charge of this thing.

NLPLOGO
Seal of the Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming TM (your seal of the best).

Until 4 years ago.  I learned NLP.  And NLP can crush the daylights out of fear.  Quicker than you can imagine.  See, when you learn something, you’ve got a pattern running in you.  Mine was spider:  shriek!  spider:  recoil!  spider:  fear!  All three of those things together.  Well, NLP broke the pattern.  In about 15 minutes, conversationally, I learned something new, a new pattern.  A pattern called:  spider:  feel calm!  spider:  feel neutral!  spider:  feel clear-minded!  And that new pattern has been running for 4 years in me.  I’m not afraid anymore.

Of course, I was super skeptical—how could something that’s been such a terror to me just vanish?  Well, it did, and how I KNEW, how I came to believe was the next time I came face to face with a spider.  Nothing.  No reaction in my body.  I felt so amazingly free.  Calm gives me the clarity to see if the spider is actually a threat or not.  Some spiders ARE dangerous.  It’s miraculous, actually.  That’s what NLP is and does:  miracles on demand.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™.  Neuro meaning the neurology in your body, how you feel and function.  Linguistic meaning communications, spoken, unspoken, language, etc.  Programming to me means change.  Changing how you feel in your body via communication.  My spider fear was changed to my spider calm.  Neutral.  An absense of any negative feelings.  How wonderful.

NLP is miraculous on phobias.  Every kind.  It’s all just unconscious associations, stimulus response patterns which  get learned/installed.  I can help you learn something better, and more resourceful.  Because I’ve learned NLP.

I’ve worked with a wide variety of fears and anxieties with my clients, from claustrophobia, to fear of flying, to fear of public speaking, to fear of records stores, to fear of deep water, to fear of the wind, fear of heights, fear of spiders, and so on… with GREAT success.  NLP works!  Hypnosis works.  Together, they really, really work.

I declare 2010 the “free from fear” year.  I want to help people release fear.  Sometimes fear makes sense and is appropriate, but when it isn’t–let me help!  I’d love to.  And I know it works.  Every time I come face to face with a spider–a rare thing now–I know it.

I saw a spider on the floor of my bathroom about a month ago, sitting by the edge of some pants that I had thrown on the floor (don’t tell anybody), and it didn’t bother me at all.  Before, it would have been a FREAK OUT DELUXE that a spider might get into my clothes…here it was live and let live.  I didn’t care enough about the spider to even DO anything about it.  It was there for several days, sitting in the corner, and I noticed it calmly and ignored it. That’s freedom.

If you’ve got an irrational fear, think about this: How would you rather feel?  The tools I know can get you there, into that new feeling.  Rapido!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

Explore!: Healing and Hypnosis

Connie Brannan, CHt., Master Hypnotist
Connie Brannan, CHt., Master Hypnotist

C’mon and get hypnotized! Once again I’ll be teaching at Bellevue College as part of the Explore! program. This go-round I’m offering two courses. The first begins this month, Monday, January 25th, and it’s on the topic of healing and hypnosis.

I’m quite excited about it, as it’s a topic close to my heart. I had a close family member come very near death, as in coma and on life support and not expected to live, and I believe that hypnosis played a part in her miraculous and thriving recovery. Trust me, I know the power of hypnosis. This is a very personal story I’ll share in more detail at my course:

Here are the particulars of the course!
http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=12058&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

Healing and Hypnosis: Secrets to Wellness

In this hands-on workshop you will learn about the mind-body connection, and the transformational power of self-hypnosis. You will learn (and experience) what hypnosis is, how your mind works, how to hypnotize yourself, how to craft potent suggestions, how to put it all together in a simple process to use these skills for accessing your power within and enhancing your own health and wellness. This workshop is conducted by Connie Brannan, CHt, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist and Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™.

Healing and Hypnosis: Secrets to Wellness
Item: W8955 Connie Brannan
6:30 PM – 9:30 PM North Campus
Sessions: 2 M Address: 10700 Northup Way Bellevue, WA 98004
1/25/2010 – 2/1/2010 Fee: $89.00

I’m also teaching another course in Building Confidence and Self-Esteem through Self-Hypnosis. That course begins in March. Details here:
http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=11562&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

Each course is sure to be lots of fun and learning crammed into two 3-hour evening classes. If it fits your schedule, I recommend these as an easy and inexpensive beginner’s taster introduction to hypnosis. Feel free to email me for more info: connie@mindworkshypnosis.net.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

More Musings About Weight Loss

Connie Brannan, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
Connie Brannan, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  TRUE!  But I have some more words to say about this as well.  I’m still thinking about weight and body image and self esteem and confidence and health and how hypnosis can improve all those things.  Unrecognizably so, in some cases.  Hypnosis works.  Fantastically well.  On so many things.  But…especially, weight loss.  That’s a topic dear to my heart.  And hips.  And chin (singular nowadays).

I’ve been having a slew of weight loss clients lately.  And, you know, I LOVE THAT!  Love it.  They’re not waiting until the first of the year and New Year’s Resolutions, they’re moving forward on what they want.  NOW!  I love that.  When you’re ready, you’re ready.  Are any of you out there ready to change your life?  You can, you know.  And it’s not magic, and it’s not voo doo and it’s also not horrifically difficult–it’s simply you doing what you want.  Do you want to lose weight?  I can help.  My tools can help.  Those tools are hypnosis and NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™.

I often get together with groups of hypnotists, at trainings and at professional meetings.  I’m not mentioning any names, but you know, there are some seriously obese hypnotists out there selling weight loss services.  In my book, that’s incongruent.  They aren’t “walking the talk.”  I am.  I do.  I wouldn’t go to a chain smoking hypnotist to quit tobacco, either.

If you want serious, passionate, compassionate (I’ve been there, believe it!), dedicated, KNOWLEDGABLE, successful help with this issue, I’m your hypnotist.  I know fat.  I know all about it.  A lifetime of knowing.  Until I learned something else.  Not fat.  I can teach you not fat.  Come learn with me!  🙂
 
Wishing you health and success this holiday season,
Connie
Posted in: Hypnosis

Cleaning out the closets

Connie Brannan, CHt., Master Hypnotist
Connie Brannan, CHt., Master Hypnotist

The topic is weight loss!  Mine, in particular.  See, I’ve been using my own tools, hypnosis and NLP to work on my own “stuff.”  Lifelong stuff.  And…I’m happy to report:  it’s working!  Going great!  🙂  I’m now officially half my former size.  I’m not going to say the NUMBERS because it’s not primarily about the numbers, in my mind.  In fact, I don’t even weigh myself.  It’s about how I feel.  How I look.  Energy!  Vitality!  Life!  Those things are improving every day.

Thus, time to clean out the closets.  I went through my clothes closet the other day, trying things on that I haven’t looked at since last winter, to see if my favorite coats and sweaters were something to keep or donate.  Most were “donate!”  Some of them looked like clown suits on me, so large.  I thought about keeping one, as a reminder, but no–off they go!  I said “goodbye” (literally and out loud) to several garments that I had particularly loved.  My brown suede blazer.  Goodbye!  My black wool “peacoat.”  Goodbye!  A favorite embroidered and beaded sweater which was hanging long on me like a dress.  Goodbye!

Letting go is good.  Letting go of things that are no longer needed or useful.  Like the extra weight.  Goodbye!

Gird yourself.  🙂  Now, the sales pitch!!  🙂  I love helping people with this issue of weight.  Because I know all about it.  I understand it.  I’m living it!  I’ve been dealing with it all my life.  And now, I know first hand how powerful and successful the tools of hypnosis and NLP are in managing it, by quickly changing patterns and habits, changing thoughts, changing feelings, streamlining change in such natural, healthy ways that lets you feel good about yourself, your life, and your capabilities.  I love it!  Absolutely.

If you’re struggling with this issue, and have “tried everything,”  (by the way, “try” = failure.) then perhaps it’s time to stop trying and start doing.  Hypnosis is a fantastic way of doing change!  It’s not “talk therapy,” it’s action therapy.  If you’re serious about getting yourself on that right path, the one you want and deserve, I can help.  Call me!  All my contact info is here:
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net/contact.html.
This is what I do, and I’m damn good at it!

Hiding behind the bag
Hiding behind the bag

Now, I’m going to put myself out there and show a “fat picture” to the world.  Here’s a pic of me from a few years ago, pre-hypnosis, and here’s me a few days ago, trying on my “pirate vixen” Halloween costume.  🙂  As they say, the camera don’t lie!

Halloween Costume 2009!
Halloween Costume 2009!
Warm Regards,
Connie
Posted in: Hypnosis

It’s cold and flu season (but not for me!)

Hi, guys!  Who watches television?  (Raising my own hand, but only half way.)  🙂  I hardly watch at all any more, because the quality of “what’s on” is going down, down, down, and my time for leisure is going down as well.  That’s a good thing, but that’s also another topic.  This one is:

Dramatic pause.  Negative suggestions.

Watching TV this past week, I can’t help but notice the BOMBARDMENT of ads right now, commercials for cold & flu medicines and paraphernalia.  Here’s the message:  “It’s cold and flu season.”  and that means “You’re going to get sick., you can expect to get sick.”  I also notice that the stores are stocking the aisles with cold and flu medicines and products–prominent and in-your-face, on the end caps and special displays, with alarming banners warning that cold and flu season is here!  Same message:  “It’s time for you to get sick now!  You’re going to get sick now.”  It’s not a warning, per se, it’s a directive!  It’s a negative suggestion.  And our minds seem quite willing to embrace it without question!

Michael has a story he likes.  He was in a work training with a woman.  She told this story:  She knew that every year she would have one bout of illness per cold and flu season, one only.  The reason she’d only have one was because she’d prepare for it, and take massive doses of vitamins.  She knew that she’d only get sick once!  Her vitamins would protect her from further illness!  And yes, it did transpire that she’d only get sick once per winter/season.  BUT…one winter she got so busy and forgot to prepare with her vitamins, didn’t think about it at all.  Guess what?  She didn’t get sick that winter.  Not once.  Not at all.  She forgot to get sick!!

Here’s a personal story about my personal experiences.  This is NOT medical advice, because…I’m not medical.  I’m a hypnotist.  And here’s one positive side effect I enjoy from my hypnosis.  Your mileage may vary.

I don’t get sick, either.  Ever.  Because I’ve decided not to.  I USED to get sick, just like everyone else.  Two major colds a year.  At LEAST two.  Until I discovered hypnosis and how the mind processes ideas and suggestions three+ years ago.  Three years, and I haven’t been sick.  Not a sniffle.  I did have food poisoning for one day (some bad shrimp on a Vegas buffet), but it ended quite quickly.  I don’t get sick because my unconscious mind rejects the idea, and does what it needs to do to make sure I stay well–strengthening my immune system, or whatever it wants to do.  I can happily trust my unconscious to keep me well, and ignore those nitty gritty details as well.  I don’t care how.  I just know it’s in place.  Wellness.  I can hang around sick people, avoid hand sanitizer, ignore those commercials and product displays, no flu shot for me, and stay well.  Three years and counting…

Hypnosis is incredibly powerful.  And our understanding is just a miniscule slice of that giant cake.  There’s so much more to know and learn.  The unconscious mind knows how to keep us healthy.  I talk to the mind in ways it likes, to do just that!

What do you suppose would happen if you decided to stay well this winter?

Warm Regards,
Connie