IS HYPNOSIS AN ART? (The Art of Hypnosis)

I love the art of hypnosis. But what is the ART? Is it the How or the Why?

What is the art of Hypnosis? Is the art the dynamic between client and the hypnotic operator? Is the art how hypnosis seems to just occur in the most fascinating ways? Is it the pacing and inflection of our voices…like a song or poetry?

For you it may develop into all or a part of those examples. I am focused on seeing what we do as an art, because art is subjective, not objective. I believe hypnosis is subjective very much so. Having an objective for our clients is too much of a Therapist-centered approach rather than a Client-Centered approach, and I guess you can say there is a true art to how to do that.

The Art of Hypnosis

I have made this art my full time practice since 2002. And I love it all—the marketing, the administration, the consultations, the sessions, the process I take someone through—so it doesn’t matter to me whether it is smoking too much, weight gain or relationship woes. What I enjoy is seeing my clients having that AHA moment, getting inspired, finding clarity, moving forward, loving life again, feeling light, and joyful. And when this happens everything changes: they stop self-defeating thoughts and end counter productive habits.

History

As hypnotists, we understand the power of hypnosis. But many people in Texas don’t necessarily feel this way. Have you ever wondered why, in other parts of the world, it is an accepted profession, and here, it seems more like a side – act? That idea started in this country with fears of mass hypnosis that surrounded WWI and continued through the Korean War.

During the Korean War, our government believed our soldiers could have been manipulated (hypnotized) to be double agents and come here as communist spies, all hypnosis entertainment type programming which was popular on radio and TV was cancelled, this is when hypnosis fell out of favor, again (it happened in the 1900s too).

So there is an entire generation that believed there was something covert about hypnosis, they “Learned” to fear it—it is classic “classic” conditioning. It has been one of the most misunderstood phenomena but aren’t most phenomena misunderstood? Just ask Anton Mesmer and James Baird and others that fell out of favor as medical doctors. Just ask Freud who blasted it while using the principals but calling it something else. So here we are, attempting to mainstream a profession that has never been mainstream. YET.

2015

I started my practice in 2001 swimming against the current of the post 9/11 mentality (more fear). I had hoped people would be swayed by the way I presented the profession in the market. I have done that to a great degree, perhaps even paving the way for others. I have learned much since then as a small business owner, hypnotist in Texas and woman truly wanting to help individuals not to spend so long trying to make changes in their life as I had done. And doing so using my experience in the advertising and marketing business.

So here is to professional hypnotism in Texas and beyond.

NOTE: This is something I wrote in 2015 and never published until now, May 2024. It could stand some updating, but I decided to leave it as it was originally written.

Valerie Grimes, Clinical Hypnotist at The Flow Center for Hypnosis in Dallas TX.