Years ago when I was a piano student, I was preparing for an "audition" at a statewide music festival. Typically there is a lot of anxiety associated with these auditions, and I often commiserated with my fellow music students about performance jitters. It seemed like everything that you’ve worked for could go right out the window in a split second! How could one’s focus just come and go like that? I felt like the victim of circumstance, never knowing if I would have an "on" day or an "off" day.

I had a big brother that was also a musician. I remember telling him about how nervous I felt when I saw the judge, sitting there in the room, ready to critique my every move mercilessly. His attitude was strangely relaxed. His advice to me was simple: "When you walk in and see the judge, just picture them in there underwear." What a funny image! And one that stuck in my head. The second image instantly changed how I felt about the first. Now part of me felt "funny" picturing this. Was this OK to think? I needed to give myself permission to actually have this image!

The day of the audition, I was still chuckling over the image. Twenty years later, I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking that day, but I do know I must have been much more focused and relaxed than usual. Not only did I play extremely well, but did so despite a potential disaster: the piece I had been preparing for months had just been removed from the approved list that year! So, at the very last minute, I had to play a piece I was relatively unprepared for. . . and did it well! The old nervousness had vaporized, and I was able to maximize my focus. The technique proved effective, and useful!

It would be many years later before I would recognize what my brother had done for me as NLP-swish pattern! Brilliant! (Picture the judge; now see them in their underwear!) The fact is, the more you become observant of how people communicate with each other and themselves, the more you will notice NLP. It is all around us. Check out TV advertising. Was that a swish pattern they just used? Wait, did they just set an anchor? And now, are they collapsing one? The concepts behind NLP techniques are all around us!

As a hypnotherapist and practitioner of NLP, you can now give people the tools to unlock their mental powers in a positive direction. But often times the key to real success lies in this: giving people PERMISSION to use their imaginations!

The application of NLP means you can rocket your practice to a new level. The best word I can use to describe it is: RESULTS! There is nothing like the feeling when a client comes back to you and reports on the success they are experiencing! With excitement in their voice and a sparkle in their eye, they tell you how well a particular thing worked: how they are not anxious anymore in a particular situation, or how a situation that typically produced a "craving" was no longer a struggle! I had one woman tell me recently, "I knew it would work the minute I left the session, but I didn’t know how good it would work!" I ask you, who wouldn’t love to hear comments like these!

Not everyone has this kind of optimism immediately. Sometimes you have a client that is a real skeptic. Part of them doesn’t think you can help them. This PART of them clings to skepticism, while another PART of them want’s desperately to change. Have you ever had thoughts like, "why are they here if they don’t think it will work? They’re wasting my time and their money!" Perhaps, however, there is a whole different approach to use this situation in a positive way: why not use the "visual squash" technique to reconcile the "skeptic" with the "optimist"? Here is a basic outline of the technique (adopted from the NFNLP Hypno-Addictionology workbook):

1. Access the skeptic. Put it in one hand (whichever is appropriate). What does it look like? What is it’s tone of voice? (V-A-K, etc.) What are the positive functions of this part?
2. Access the optimist ("believer"). Repeat procedure as step one.
3. Have both parts turn and face one another. Ask each if it understands and appreciates the value of the other part. (Establish sameness of appreciation for positive outcome, and commonality of function.)
4. Integrate "skeptic" and "believer". Have client "watch and listen to both these valuable parts of yourself, allowing the two hands to come together ONLY AS FAST as those two parts can blend and integrate in ways most comfortable and useful to you." Allow each part to retain usefulness and importance, while benefiting from the qualities and capacities of the other.

Elaborate and adopt the technique to your liking. Watch what happens when your client (and you) no longer sees skepticism as a problem, but an opportunity for growth! Naturally as clients have their own experiences using NLP techniques, they will become convinced for themselves about the power that is there for unleashing. Don’t forget to give them permission to have fun!