Many people start by asking “help me find a hypnotist!” But they may not know what to ask after that. Here are the 10 essential questions to ask when you want to find a good hypnotist to help you make a change or help improve your life.

1. How long have you been a hypnotist?

The length of time someone does a job doesn’t guarantee they will be good at it. But it’s usually better to select someone with more experience rather than less. Keep in mind some hypnotists have been in practice a long time but haven’t seen very many clients because they do this work part-time or as a hobby. The best combination is someone with many years of experience with many clients.

2. What hypnosis training do you have?

There are several formal hypnosis organizations, many training groups and private individuals who do hypnosis training. There is no such thing as a “license” to practice hypnosis, but there are various certifications someone can get to become a professional hypnotist after attending these different trainings. Basically you want to know that the hypnotist you’re considering is certified, and preferably by a group or organization known for its high standards and professional instruction. You want your hypnotist to have the best hypnosis training.

Anyone can print out a certificate, so it would be good to ask about what kind of group trained the hypnotist you wanting to work with. Shockingly, there are some people who advertise themselves as professional hypnotists who only received their education “on line”. They received a certificate of completion and never saw a single live client! Your choice of hypnotists will improve when you know they have had lots of hands-on training with high quality organizations. Hypnosis is not a skill you can get on the internet!! The letters ‘CH’ after their name will tell you they are a ‘Certified Hypnotist’ but you need to go beyond the letters to find out more important information.

3. Do you get professional feedback and additional training to improve your skills?

The idea of getting new information and feedback is critical for your self-improvement and growth. And the same is true of your hypnotist!

People who take their profession seriously should want to continually increase their skills and improve their knowledge. Ask your hypnotist about the training, education, and most especially personal feedback from a mentor or coach they get on an on-going basis. This will tell you if they value upgrading and enhancing their expertise and competence. Don’t you want them to be the best hypnotist they can be?

If learning more, and improving yourself personally and professionally is what your hypnotist wants to do for you, ask if they’re doing that for themselves!

Some hypnotists never receive any additional education or training after they become a hypnotist. There is simply no way any one course or training or program can provide everything a hypnotist would need for all the years they will be in practice. If you’re asking “How do I find the best hypnosis results?”, start with a hypnotist who is always learning more about how to get those results.

4. Do you offer a free hypnosis consultation so I can meet you and ask questions to see if hypnosis can help me?

The kinds of questions you may want to ask are:

• “Is hypnosis safe?”
• “Can hypnosis help me?”
• “Can Christians use hypnosis?”
• “ What is the best hypnosis program to stop smoking?”
• “Does hypnosis last?”
• “Is hypnosis for weight loss easy?“
• “Does hypnosis for anxiety really work?”

The best Hypnotist is someone you feel comfortable with. Someone who takes time to understand your situation and you trust to do the best job for you. A free hypnosis consultation or screening will give you the best opportunity to see for yourself what the Hypnotist is like, what kind of office they work in, and perhaps even meet some of his or her clients. You should think of a free screening or consultation as a mandatory part of getting all the information you need you can in choosing your Hypnotist.

A personal free hypnosis consultation is also the very best way for the hypnotist to evaluate you and your situation. The only way for him or her to accurately determine what would be best for you is to see you face to face. You wouldn’t want your hairdresser deciding how to cut or color your hair without seeing you, would you? Many people feel that a free personal hypnosis consultation is the only ethical way for a hypnotist to determine if you would be a good candidate for hypnosis. If the hypnotist says he or she can evaluate you and determine what you need over the phone, that’s like your dentist telling you which teeth he needs to work on before he ever looks in your mouth. You should call someone else who approaches taking care of you a little more seriously.

5. Are you an active part of an industry association or group?

There are numerous public and private hypnosis groups and organizations. It would be good for your Hypnotist to have an affiliation or connection with such a group for several reasons. One is that these groups often offer on-going teaching and continuing education so the Hypnotist can continually increase their skill level.

Secondly, often these groups include a mentoring or feedback process so that the Hypnotist has access to other points of view and perspectives that over time can build their maturity level so they too can continue to grow personally and professionally.

Finally, the best of these groups or organizations have published standards of practice, high moral principles, and codes of behavior. Any ethical Hypnotist would agree to be actively involved in creating a high level of professionalism and excellence in the hypnosis field. To do that, they would belong to a group that promotes that level of quality and superior value in their work.

6. Do you have a lot of training and hypnosis experience in my issue?

There is nothing like experience. No amount of learning from a book or watching someone else is as good as the hands-on skill and knowledge that come from doing something over and over. The best hypnosis program for you is going to be the one where your Hypnotist has years of experience in the topic you came in to fix. If your Hypnotist has the best weight loss program and great results with weight loss hypnosis, but you’re coming in to get great results with smoking hypnosis, and he or she hardly ever sees someone who wants to get hypnosis to stop smoking, there would be a potential lack of experience issue.

Simply put, experience in dealing with and treating your topic is a very critical consideration. There are lots and lots of nice Hypnotists out there, but not everyone has the same comprehension, mastery and proficiency to help you.

7. Do you have a sincere focus on me?

For positive results in hypnosis, most people will tell you it’s the relationship you have with your hypnotist that makes the big difference. A hypnotist could be positively brilliant and an amazing expert at what they do, but if you aren’t getting the feeling that your Hypnotist really cares about you and your situation, you may not be able to get all that person has to offer you. Hypnosis training works best when you feel your Hypnotist is sincere. That means he or she is honest with you, genuine, truthful with you about what you can expect with hypnosis, and straight-forward about your weight loss results, your stop smoking results, or whatever other questions you have about getting positive hypnosis results for yourself. A good Hypnotist will take the time to make sure you learn something helpful and valuable each and every session.

Whether you want hypnosis for weight loss, hypnosis for confidence, or hypnosis for overcoming a fear, it starts with the right relationship; one where they care about you and your results.

8. Demographics matter: Which would give you the best hypnosis results; Male vs. female, older vs. younger, compatible values, faith-based, or personal appearance?

Whenever you hire anyone to work for you or with you, it’s important to feel comfortable with that person. You should give a lot of thought to your own personal preferences; would you feel more content with a male or female Hypnotist? Is their age a factor? Can you relate to someone better if they are operating out of a faith perspective? Does it matter to you if they are married? Living in your same town? What if you prefer a man, but he has a beard and you feel more relaxed with a clean-shaven man? If your Hypnotist has tattoos, excessive jewelry, bold clothing or odd hair-dos, would that bother you? How about if they were also a plumber and did hypnosis on the side rather than full time? Does it matter if they smoke and you’re coming to hypnosis to stop your smoking habit?

These are all valid considerations before you commit to entering into such an important relationship where the trust factor needs to be high. The more comfortable you feel, the better your hypnosis experience will be.

9. Is NLP – which can greatly increase the effectiveness of hypnosis sessions – used routinely in your sessions?

NLP, or neuro linguistics, is learning to change or control the relationship between language and how your brain responds to it. In other words, the way we communicate in our minds and with other people has a big impact on the way our lives and relationships turn out. NLP techniques are extremely effective in creating new ways to think about old problems or emotional blocks, so using NLP with hypnosis is a very powerful combination.

NLP training is entirely separate from hypnosis training, and has different certifications. Since they work so well together, the best hypnosis for anxiety, weight loss or to stop smoking would definitely be hypnosis with NLP. Look for a Hypnotist that has both areas of expertise. If the Hypnotist also offers NLP training you could take to enhance your ability to control your mood, emotions and state of mind that would be ideal.

10. Do you offer a hypnosis guarantee to lose weight, stop smoking or reduce anxiety?

It is unethical and unprofessional for someone to falsely claim that they can “guarantee” someone else’s behavior, success, learning or results. The only thing anyone can actually guarantee is their own behavior or actions.

Beware of hypnotists or programs that offer claims about high success rates using hypnosis or promises about things you will or won’t do or achieve. As if they can “make you” lose weight with hypnosis or stop smoking or gain confidence. No one can “make” anyone do anything. As with so many other things, the hypnosis results you get are 100% dependent on your actions and choices. That’s why hypnosis is really training to learn a skill. The skill of going into a calm, relaxed state of mind and use your unconscious mind to help you visualize and achieve whatever goals you choose.

The best hypnotist will be someone who is confident guaranteeing their own commitment to you and providing training to help you achieve your outcomes. What you do with that help, commitment and training is up to you. You must first choose what goal you want. Then, as long as you come for your sessions as scheduled, and follow the suggestions and recommendations given to you in your hypnosis training, your hypnotist should have no problem guaranteeing that they will stick with you until you have accomplished what you set out to do. The best hypnosis results happen when you take 100% responsibly for following directions and learning, and the hypnotist takes 100% responsibility to give you the right suggestions to teach you.

Your Hypnotist should offer a Written Service Guarantee, and they should mention in their advertisement that client results do vary, there are no guarantees about client behavior, and that the client’s choices and actions determine the outcomes and results they get in their programs.