Integrative Hypnosis: A Comprehensive Course in Change

I'm not a specialist. I'm a philosopher and I study consciousness; after a surprisingly effective experience with hypnotherapy I wanted to learn more about it. I read for a living, so I did what I always do: I indiscriminately read a bunch of books in the order available (from Milton Erickson to Richard Bandler, through some less prominent names like McKay, Hewitt or Friesen and everything kindle-available on Amazon). I can definitely say that I benefited the most from Melissa Tiers' "Integrative Hypnosis".The book is a polished transcript from a class Tiers was teaching. Whether it's about her way of teaching or the skill of the editor, the book manages to take you inside the seminar room, and experience the content of the course as an unfolding dialog of sorts. What made it so useful to me is Tiers' ability to synthesize a variety of metods I've read about elsewhere, give them a personal touch and integrate them into a comprehensive, sensible attitude that I ended up admiring. Here is one way in which this specific attitude comes through. Where other hypnotists would always say things like "you now feel that your arms are heavy", Tiers would prefer saying "You *might notice* that your arms are heavy", or "You have perhaps already succeeded in making your arms feel heavy". This is not an actual example (I don't have the book with me writing the review), but it illustrates her determination to shift the power from the therapist to the client whenever possible. You get the impression that she is not teaching you how to be a great hypnotist; she's teaching how to make your clients feel good and in control. It's a skill of "modest hypnosis", where the healer is conceived as a facilitator and a companion rather than a savior or a healer. Bandler tries to do that sometimes, but he's so full of himself that it's very unconvincing—you know that he is always thinking "But I'm so damn awesome, and it really helps".Another good thing about Tiers is her flexible approach to 'method'. Where others would try to sell you the limited toolbox (of, say, NLP or Time Line therapy), she tells you: here is a bunch of methods. Here is how I used them; here is what I changed and why. This worked, and this didn't. Take it all and use it creatively; try to not get stuck.One more thing: I'm incredibly sensitive to unwarranted, exaggerated statements and unreflective 'spiritual enthusiasm'. This is why I loathed most of the readings on hypnosis (from the outside of the proper 'Ericksonian' tradition). Past lives regression? Universal consciousness? Please! I had to use so much of my energy to drag the useful stuff from underneath the craziness. Tiers finds a way to talk about some beliefs associated with particular hypnotic practices with commonsensical arguments; she is calm and non-judgmental. When asked about past lives regression, for instance, she said "Well, the unconscious mind speaks in metaphors". It's a great way to both, defend the practice and put it in perspective. About one other thing she said something along the lines of "If it really worked it would probably be on CNN, but I like to think it's true". This kind of honesty about one's longing for spirituality (whatever 'spirituality' is, but you get my point, I hope) wins me over immediately; a commitment to spirituality that lacks reflection, on the other hand, makes me want to rip my arm off and beat myself with it real hard. I didn't have to do it with Tiers once. She's teaching in NYC and she knows how to deal with her audience.So, if you're interested in hypnotherapy, you should get this book. It's a good one.

The book Integrative Hypnosis is written as a transcript from a workshop. Perhaps about 80% of this book consists of NLP techniques, so if you have attended NLP training, they will not be new to you. However, since NLP is generally thought through NLP workshops, and most hypnosis courses teach only classical hypnosis techniques, if you've only learned classical hypnosis, then this book will open a new world for you.Some of the NLP techniques covered in this book are calibration, eye accessing cues, submodalities, pacing, leading, anchoring, stacking anchors, collapsing anchors, swish, time-lines, few hypnotic language patterns and meta model, backward spin, reframing, future pacing, and of course an overview of NLP presuppositions.Even NLP training programs tend to teach you just techniques, not necessarily offer suggestions for different situations where you may use them. The author of this book, Melissa, on the other hand, shares with you varieties of techniques she picked up, from hypnosis, NLP, EFT and few other places and then opens you up to brainstorm the possibilities of techniques you may use to help a client to stop smoking, lose weight, manage pain, engage the body to heal itself, deliver a child, explore past lives, transform emotions like anger and fear, even explore spiritual questions like "who am I?"You'll also learn different ways of inducing trance in Ericksonian hypnosis, including arm catalepsy, handshake induction, hand drop induction, a review of an induction from Bandler's book Trance-formations, as well as the fact that sometimes you don't need to use any formal induction because simply directing the client's attention to a subjective experience, will guide the client into a trance.The essence of Ericksonian approach to hypnosis is utilization - utilizing what is already present in a client to help the client solve the problem. For that reason, you will not find hypnotherapy scripts in this book, though you will find hypnotic suggestions interspersed throughout the book, giving you an idea of possible ways in which you may use hypnotic language to help the client get desired outcomes.This book is only a start. Its purpose being to elicit curiosity in you to learn more. Some techniques in this book may help you to get even instant results in some situations, while other techniques you may need to practice perhaps for months or maybe even years to develop the mastery, and the learning really never stops. The more techniques you have under your belt, the more you experiment, the more skillfully you'll be able to deal with any situation, because if one thing doesn't work, you'll always be able to try something else.

I love this book. Melissa is a ground breaking Hypnotherapist. She is amazing, and is an expert at change work, and simplified it. This book takes you thru her course. It's sort of a transcript of her course.

This is a great book it's as if you are in the classroom watching and listening. Very interesting read.

This book was highly recommended to me by a hypnotherapist colleague, and I am so glad I read it. Melissa Tiers has indeed integrated many processes such as NLP, time based techniques, EFT, Ericksonian hypnosis, reframing, anchoring, energy work, etc for creating deep change on many levels. What is so remarkable about this book is its accessibility. It is presented as an actual course with questions and answers drawn from the author's live teaching sessions. And you feel as though you're right there with her, enriched by her sense of wonder, of possibility, and excitement. If you want to choose one book to read on the subject then this is the one.-Irene Mock

I would really love to do one of Melissa's classes.Her energy is carried over into written word really well. She obviously has great rapport with her students, I also found the course content just a little askew, which I interpreted as a person comfortable in what she does and willing to explore, which I loved. Well worth the investment.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and insights. You have elevated my hypnosis practice and thank you for making your work so accessible. Highly recommend for every hypnotist

Loved this book very informative. It goes very in depth & yet also implies a true sense of fun and freedom relaxed and flexible approach to learning hypnosis. I Enjoyed it alot