Two Hypnotherapists Talking...

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH www.healandberadiant.com       [email protected]

Les Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

0:00) Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone (0:13) who'd like to know more about the fascinating world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.(0:19) I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and specialist in working with children. (0:25) And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant to hypnosis. (0:30) We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So let's get on with the episode. (0:36) The nice thing about when it's just you and I, I don't have to introduce you, (0:40) you don't have to introduce me. Everybody knows us.(0:42) I know. (0:43) We were talking before we came on air about what do you want to do for next season? (0:48) We both think that we probably should have a little more direction in where we're going (0:51) when we do this. So I really like the idea of bringing in fears and phobias.(0:58) I agree. (0:59) Those issues, because there's so many, there's so many fears. There's so many phobias.There's (1:04) a lot of different ways that this can manifest itself. And there isn't anybody on the planet (1:09) that hasn't got some little, you know, dark corner somewhere that they don't like to look at. (1:15) Okay, so what are we going to talk about today after the next season? (1:20) What about where we're up to, what we're doing for that, you know, for in the next few months, (1:27) what we're going to be up to? (1:28) Well, you know, I changed my marketing plan.So I'm, I'm, I'm advertising and writing about (1:35) one particular issue for the entire month. So June was all, what was it? (1:44) Pain. (1:45) Pain.Pain. Yes. Chronic pain.And then this month is anxiety, (1:52) stress, and sleep because they tend to be all mish-moshed together. (1:56) Um, and next, I think fear and fear and phobia is a natural one to do. (2:06) Yeah, yeah.Like you said, (2:09) Do you see many people for fear? (2:11) I do. Actually, I've got to tell you about, I've just had a consultation with a young boy (2:19) who has a fear of people sneezing. (2:25) Does he think he'll catch it? Or he just doesn't like the noise? (2:28) We're not quite sure.We've not got there yet, but he doesn't like it. (2:34) Seven. He gets very, very upset.(2:37) Will he run around that room and leave or scream at them? Or what happens? (2:42) I will. Initially, when I got the inquiry from mum, I initially thought, oh, I wonder if it's (2:49) COVID-related. But he was a baby during COVID, so he, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't remember (2:55) COVID at all.(2:56) But you don't have to remember something to be frightened of it. (2:59) No, you don't. But he has this really bad, intense, that's all how I can explain it, (3:09) intense fear of sneezing.And I said to him, what happens if somebody sneezes at school? (3:14) What happens if somebody sneezes at home? So mum said, well, if we want to sneeze, (3:20) we have to go out of the room and hold it as much as you can. It's very hard. (3:26) It makes it worse.(3:28) And if anybody sneezes at school, especially in this weather now, then he really does have (3:38) these overwhelming behaviours where he has to leave the class. (3:44) Oh dear. Does he sneeze himself? Has he had allergies? (3:52) No, he doesn't.No, very, very rarely sneezes himself. I think it goes deeper than that as (4:00) well, because he actually said that it's not just sneezing, it's actually other bodily functions (4:07) that he doesn't like as well. (4:09) Oh dear.(4:11) We will look forward to hearing more about this young man as you find out more. (4:15) Yeah, we'll see. (4:16) When are you starting to see him? (4:18) I'm not quite sure yet.We're just waiting for mum to get back with some dates, but I have (4:24) offered them two sorts of packages. One is hypnosis in an indirect way because he's a child (4:33) and the other one is hypnosis with my version of sleep talk, which is rest and reset. (4:41) Oh, yeah, that would be a good way really.(4:43) Yeah, I think, I think it would probably work. (4:47) I think it really would work for him. (4:50) Does he want it to work? Does he feel like this is my thing, leave me alone? (4:56) No, he does want to change, but this is the delay in whether he's coming back or not, (5:03) because he's not quite sure whether he wants me to help him.So I've just said, (5:09) I've just done a video, sent it to mum and the video is for him and we'll just have to see. (5:15) Just sit there and... (5:16) Oh, well, good luck. (5:17) Yeah, he's very reluctant.He's very scared of change as well. So that doesn't help, (5:25) but we'll just have to see. (5:27) Does he like school? (5:29) He does, he enjoys school, yeah.He's a good achiever, high achiever. (5:34) Do you know whether he developed this before he started school? (5:39) How long has it been a problem? (5:40) Since he's been to school, it's only, it's been about 18 months, two years. (5:45) So it's before, it's after he's been to school.He went to what's called reception, (5:52) not reception, he went to nursery, then reception, then I think he's year two now, (5:57) something like that. So we'll just have to see what happens. Mum knows, (6:01) you know, what I'm capable of doing and I came highly recommended by somebody else.(6:06) So we'll just have to see. (6:09) Yeah, well, good luck. (6:10) Yeah, yeah.But we do get some weird and wonderful ones, don't we? (6:15) And I think they're nice because they challenge us, don't they? (6:20) Yeah, and I think the other thing is, while we're smiling about this, (6:24) there's a little boy who doesn't like sneezing. (6:25) Oh, no, no, it's no. (6:27) We will not laugh at whatever your thing is.We know that these aren't (6:35) trivial to the people we're suffering from. (6:37) Definitely not. You know, it's just that when you're in, when you're doing this line of work, (6:45) it's just nice.It sounds awful, this, but to me, in my opinion, it's nice to have something (6:51) different. And it's nice to be challenged, really, isn't it? Rather than just... (7:01) Well, good luck with him. (7:02) Yeah, yeah, yeah.So this is a busy... (7:07) Keep us posted, yeah. (7:08) I will, so... (7:10) Are you busy? Is it because kids are out of school now? (7:13) No, they don't finish yet. (7:15) They're just about to leave school.(7:16) I think it's 22nd of July they finish. (7:20) Right, but it's getting things set up for during the holiday. (7:24) So I'm running some wellbeing classes for the children.I'm running them four weeks, (7:31) but I'm only running them on a Monday and a Wednesday mornings. That's all I'm doing because (7:38) for the past couple of years, when I've been running them for the likes of our local council, (7:43) they've really taken over my whole summer. So I'm just going to run them for... (7:49) Yeah, it's nice to have a summer as well.(7:51) 90 minutes a day for four weeks on a Monday and on a Wednesday, and they will get a booklet, (7:58) they will get all kinds of stuff. And there's lots and lots of crafting (8:02) and activities to do as well. So that's nice.(8:04) Oh, what's the age spread? (8:06) Uh, six to 12. I'll accept a five-year-old, but I'll also accept a 13, 14-year-old book. (8:16) Yeah.I probably wouldn't want to be here with a bunch of little kids. (8:20) Exactly. So I just leave it open for parents, you know, at parent's discretion.(8:28) But it's nice for those things that work for groups like weight loss, (8:34) which is a good thing, because everybody in the world has complained about their weight, (8:40) either one direction or the other. So it's not... People aren't shy to talk about that issue. (8:44) No, no.(8:46) You know? And so I think groups are much easier for people to deal with that. (8:50) And we're also been sort of socially accepted with Weight Watchers, not the rest of it. (8:55) So people are surprised to say that you have a group program.(8:58) Yeah. I mean, they are very small groups. They're only eight.(9:02) The maximum eight I'm going to have here, because eight children, I think that'll be enough. (9:08) These are in person, though. These are face-to-face.So I don't want more than (9:14) eight children here at a time. I just think it's going to be bedlam, but it's going to be fun. (9:19) So I really like it.So that's what I'm doing. (9:23) Do you have the seating in the new place? (9:26) Yes, we'll have it there. (9:28) Do you have the seating available? (9:29) Yes, there's lots of seating.(9:30) That is on the floor. (9:31) Yeah, but also we've got room away from it, at the front of it, to put the gazebo. (9:38) So the gazebo can go there as well.(9:40) So we've got plenty of room. Lots and lots of chairs. (9:43) We've got big, long tables.So it'll be good. (9:47) Okay. When you have a client come to you who says, (9:52) I've had backache for the last 20 years, other than saying earlier, (9:58) what's the first thing that you ask them? (10:02) If they've been to the doctors, actually, and what the doctor has said.(10:07) Well, yeah, 20 years, they're better off. (10:09) Yeah, and I would be asking them for, I would actually want to write to the doctor to see (10:18) why they've still got this pain. So, and go from there, really.(10:24) And find out what else they've done, because it's interesting, you can get through a lot of things. (10:28) I've actually got a lovely lady who's coming to see me for pain. (10:32) But the pain that she's struggling with is from some road traffic accidents.

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH www.healandberadiant.com       [email protected]

Les Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

Garry Coles MSc www.hypno-oncology.com             www.releasehypnotherapy.com +44 1252 687260

Two Hypnotherapists Talking with Garry Coles E6 S9

Jun 29, 2026, 12:19 PM

Two Hypnotherapists Talking with Garry Coles E6 S9

Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about the fascinating (0:14) world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.I'm a clinical hypnotherapist (0:21) and specialist in working with children. And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant (0:28) hypnotist. We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.So let's get on with the episode. (0:36) Hello and welcome. Welcome to episode six of season nine.And Denise and I have got a wonderful guest (0:44) today. This is Gary Cole. And Gary Cole is a oncology based hypnotherapist.Was that what (0:52) you say you were, Gary? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm a general hypnotherapist, but I do see people for (0:58) everything.But I specialize in hypno-oncology, if you like, is hypnotic interventions for the (1:05) cancer journey. Yes. Yeah.I've also read about you as well. And in 2016, the UK Hypnosis Convention (1:13) claimed you to be amongst the top 30 hypnotherapists in the world. Yay! Kudos to you.That's fantastic. (1:23) Yeah. That's great.And the other one to show that I'm truly international. One of the oldest (1:30) hypnotherapy conferences, the Mid-America one in Chicago, gave me an award in 2024 as (1:36) Medical Hypnotist of the Year in the US. Excellent.Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. (1:43) Do you see a lot of people from everywhere? Or is it mostly UK? No, I do.It is mostly the UK, (1:51) but I'm doing more even in the UK on Zoom. You know, I was working with somebody I'm based on (1:57) the Hampshire-Surrey border. And I was working with somebody just now in Oxford (2:01) via Zoom.I've got a cancer patient this week that I'm working with in Boston in the US. (2:09) So yeah, so it is getting slightly more common to do internationally. (2:15) Your interest originally was because you had a family member with cancer? (2:19) Um, no, I have had that when my mother sadly passed away with lymphoma and my grandfather (2:27) had esophageal cancer, but he lived till he was 94.So that didn't really. (2:32) But that wasn't really I that wasn't really the reason it was it was sort of more accidental, (2:37) really. Because I qualified as a hypnotherapist back in 2005.And it was only a few weeks after (2:46) I qualified. So the word had seemed to go around and I had a call from the hospital. (2:51) And they said, Oh, we used we used to have a hypnotherapist here in the cancer department, (2:55) and they've gone.It's really useful with cancer patients. Would you like to come and, (2:59) you know, come and excellent. So I must admit, my original idea was I wasn't (3:03) greatly interested in that area, particularly.And I thought, well, I'm newly qualified, (3:09) I need experience. So I thought I'll go in there for a few weeks, because each day I was in there, (3:15) I was servicing four clients, four patients sort of in half a day. So I thought I'd go in there, (3:21) you know, for a few weeks, get my experience skyrocketing, and then I'll disappear.(3:25) And that didn't quite work because, you know, sort of 19 years. (3:31) Do you still work mostly with patients from that hospital? Or is it a referral from other places? (3:39) Now, everybody I see that contacts me sort of directly are private patients from (3:45) the place, because I'm in the fortunate position now that on social, lots of people know that I do (3:51) this area. And people track me down for it.But it's also rather nice on social media. (3:57) If anybody puts anything about does anybody know a hypnotherapist who specialises in cancer? (4:02) There you are. (4:04) Somebody put my name up sort of pretty quickly.So yeah, so I spent 19 or did 19 years in the (4:10) hospital. And I think I did about 3000 cancer patients in that time. So I've developed a lot (4:17) of techniques that worked for them, I could see what would work and what wouldn't know what you (4:21) can work with.And then because I was there, I had the chance to do a master's degree in (4:29) clinical hypnotherapy through the University of West London. And it freaked the university out (4:35) like mad because it was the first cohort in this country to do a master's degree in clinical (4:41) hypnotherapy. And they wanted to do some research.So most people would say, no, I'll do some (4:47) research on weight loss and smoking, stuff like that. And I said, I want to do some stuff with (4:52) cancer patients and panic their ethics committee. So I thought, well, I've been doing the cancer (4:57) work for so long.And I thought it'd be really, really useful to do something medical based in (5:03) the hospital. Yeah. So I actually did a study.And I did a study into pre-surgical hypnosis and (5:10) the effects that had on the recovery quality and breast cancer operations, and was able to (5:15) demonstrate that it did and how and why. And that sort of got me known a little bit more in that (5:21) area. And it wasn't due to my research, I must admit, but the Royal College of Anaesthetists (5:25) now actually recommend pre-surgical hypnosis.They don't call it that. What do they call it? (5:31) I think it's just preparing your mindset for surgery. Yeah.So they do offer recordings (5:40) and things. So it is in the right direction. But I did my research and then sort of word got out.(5:45) So I started getting people emailing me, hitting the therapist saying, oh, you know, you're an (5:49) expert in working with cancer patients. Can you give me some advice? So I did. And then a few (5:54) people said, oh, you ought to do a training course in this.You know, at that stage, I thought nobody's (5:58) going to be interested. And then I did a couple of podcast interviews. I was getting more emails.(6:05) And then it really went that I was invited to do the first UK conference. And they suggested, (6:12) oh, yeah, you ought to put a course together. So eventually I did.So I did put the course together. (6:17) And then I did the first UK conference and I got invited whether I'd like to go and do the (6:21) one in Las Vegas. So I went there and it sort of escalated from there.Really. I saw training (6:27) courses both online and in person and all around the world. I mean, last year, I was teaching (6:33) nurses and hypnotherapists in Iceland.Actually, next week, not this weekend, the following (6:38) weekend, I'm actually going to be teaching medical staff in Warsaw in Poland. Are you doing most of (6:45) that online? Or do you actually travel there? I've done one online. I've done one online to (6:52) this country.I've done two online to this country, but the first one was due when we had COVID. So (6:58) I couldn't see. Yeah, so I took mine.And I've done one online one to Australia because I couldn't get (7:05) enough people going out there. But the other ones are in person. I mean, I did one in Iceland.(7:10) One last year in Iceland was in person. I did a private one a couple of years ago for psychologists (7:15) in Bahrain. And I'll be doing Warsaw next week, the week after next.I'll be doing that in person. (7:22) And then I'm actually going to be doing a workshop next month in Vegas as part of the conference (7:27) there as well. It's a very full schedule.You get to relax at all. Well, yeah, it's nice when I go (7:34) visit places. I do add some extra days for downtime and fun.But yeah, this year, the (7:40) schedule's gone stupid, really. I mean, I've already presented in Dublin, Copenhagen and Antwerp (7:49) in the last three months. I shall be in Vegas next month, obviously Poland next week, Vegas next (7:55) month.Nothing in August, but something will show up. Well, September, September, I'm presenting (8:04) in Detroit and then Los Angeles in October. I'm presenting in Chicago and then Toronto.(8:11) And then I've got the UK one back in November. So that's my schedule for this year. (8:16) I believe also you've published a hypno-oncology book, haven't you? (8:20) I've got a hypno-oncology script book and I'm trying to do an academic book on it as well, (8:26) where I must admit, I hold my hand up guilty of a little bit of procrastination and being too busy.(8:32) I'm trying to do an academic book sort of based on my course work. I've still got about three, (8:38) I've had about three chapters to do for about the last 18 months. (8:44) You've been practicing about 20 years.So have you seen any difference in people's (8:49) attitude to hypnosis? Yeah, it's becoming, I think, (8:53) more and more, I mean, I think the market's getting a little bit saturated by everybody (8:58) thinking, oh, I can do that and, you know, do a two-day course or an online course. I saw one (9:03) yesterday, somebody offering a $7 online course to be a certified hypnotherapist. So that's sort (9:10) of annoying, but I think it's becoming more accepted by people because people now are looking for more (9:16) holistic approaches rather than, you know, medical and pharmaceutical approaches.And it is (9:23) becoming more accepted by the medical fraternity. Al

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH  www.healandberadiant.com      [email protected]

Les Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

 Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about the fascinating (0:14) world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and (0:22) specialist in working with children. And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant hypnotist. (0:30) We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So let's get on with the episode. (0:36) It is silly though, isn't it? When sometimes we forget the most simplest of words. (0:41) It really is.Les and I were talking about my next, my marketing plan has changed slightly. (0:50) Every month I'm working on a particular aspect of hypnosis or what it's used for. (0:55) This last month that I'm in right now, but you're not in June.June was, (1:01) my mind's gone blank again, I've been working on this. (1:05) Stress. Stress.(1:06) No, no, no, no, no. June was not anxiety. See, my brain's just gone.(1:13) Anxiety. (1:14) I need a session myself. Bring my brain back.(1:18) Chronic pain. (1:20) And so, and then the next one is anxiety and stress. (1:24) Those are the two big ones that I consider medical people come to me for.(1:28) A lot of weight. You see a lot of people for weight. You see children for weight.(1:33) I've only ever seen two children for weight in all the years I've been doing this. (1:38) Two children for weight. I've seen them for food issues, eating issues, (1:42) fussy eating, ARFID, which is food avoidance.(1:47) But I haven't seen any child for weight apart from those two. (1:52) That was a long time ago, yeah. But that's just something that I want to be able to do.(1:59) Because there is, apart from the dieticians for the National Health Service, (2:04) I don't think there's anywhere else for them to go. (2:07) Yeah, and you don't really want children following the ones that are advertised on TV (2:11) and all the other... (2:12) No, no. But I think I might have to do like a nutrition course or something first.(2:18) So I'm not quite sure really. (2:20) You think you're limited legally, you think? (2:23) I don't know. I don't know.I'd have to look into it. (2:26) It's something that I've never really thought about. (2:28) But I have been thinking these past few weeks, (2:32) well past few months about working with children in that capacity.(2:37) Because we're limited, aren't we? (2:40) Wherever we go, whether we're in the United States or whether we're over here in the UK (2:45) or whether we're anywhere in Europe, children's services are very, very limited. (2:52) Always has been. (2:53) Yeah, unless you're prepared to pay private.(2:56) Yeah, exactly. Politician, they're growing, they continue. (3:01) And at some point they will be voters, so pay attention to them now.(3:05) Yes, exactly, exactly. (3:08) It is all about them being healthy, but a healthy mind as well. (3:13) So like I keep saying, we'll just keep flying those flags, banging those drums and hopefully... (3:20) But tell me about your course or your webinar that you're running.(3:24) The webinar which is occurring this coming Saturday, (3:28) which is well before we're putting this out, this is later on in the month. (3:32) It's just me blathering on for about 15 minutes talking about hypnosis for pain (3:38) and the things it can address and how to go. (3:42) Hopefully some people coming will be doctors (3:45) who can then pass around the idea that hypnosis is good.(3:50) Because yes, it would be lovely if you said more to me, (3:52) but I'm only one person and I'm okay with them sharing with other people too. (3:56) But what we worry about as a group of people (3:59) is for more people to realise how helpful hypnosis can be (4:02) and how side effect free it is. (4:06) Yes, it can.(4:07) Really unusual to have a negative thing that happens. (4:11) The old happy action, that lasts about three minutes and it's gone. (4:15) So you're one on pain and then is it a rolling month? (4:22) I'm just going to, yeah, I'm going by the date of the month.(4:25) July 1st coming up next is the Wednesday. (4:30) So I'll start everything on... (4:34) It's gone again. (4:36) Is it very warm there? (4:37) Because as you can see with my face, it's very, very warm here.(4:41) It's actually fairly cool today. (4:43) This floor we air condition, this is the floor we sleep on. (4:46) But downstairs, it felt okay.(4:48) Today up here, it almost feels cold. (4:50) It's very grey. (4:51) There's not a lot of sun out.(4:53) It's very, very hot here today. (4:58) I love the hot weather. (5:00) We've been doing a little bit of gardening, (5:02) but where we've been doing the gardening, it's a bit of a sun trap.(5:06) So I came in a couple of hours before we came on to record to get a shower. (5:13) My face was bright red. (5:15) So I'm hoping that I've put enough stuff on now so it calms it down.(5:20) You put sunscreen on before you went out, naughty girl. (5:23) Well, I did. (5:24) I did because my facial stuff is factor 30.(5:28) But I didn't renew it and it was very, very hot. (5:32) And I kept just wiping my face, you know, because it was really hot. (5:35) Wiping it all off.(5:37) Yeah, yeah. (5:38) So I'm very, very red here, but I've got some nice... (5:45) I've never used it before, but I find it absolutely fantastic. (5:49) It's like a bar of soap, but it's oil.(5:52) So when it heats up in your hands, it turns to oil and it's like an after sun. (5:59) And you put it on your face. (6:01) So I've... (6:03) Please show me the details.(6:04) I'll see if Amazon's got it. (6:06) I will. (6:06) It's only a little bar, just a little bar like that.(6:10) But it's really, really good. (6:12) And there's also one that you can have for... (6:15) You can actually use it afterwards like a balm for going to sleep. (6:20) And I think that's like a lavender.(6:22) I used to get these beauty boxes every month, you know, (6:24) where you'd get all these free... (6:26) Not free things, but these trial things. (6:29) And that's where I'm experimenting a little bit, (6:32) thinking I've got so much stuff upstairs that I need to use rather than, you know, throw away. (6:37) By looking at it without just throwing it out the window.(6:41) Yeah, yeah. (6:42) So how organised is your new office? (6:45) Very organised. (6:46) There it is.(6:47) This is it? (6:47) Oh, yes. (6:48) That's it. (6:48) I can see it through the screens, yes.(6:50) Through the screen, yeah. (6:51) So I'm in it, but the electrics aren't in yet. (6:55) So once the electrics are in, then I will be... (6:58) Oh, so by the time people are listening to this, (7:00) you'll probably be in it.(7:01) Oh, yeah. (7:01) I think it's next week now because I don't think it'll come this week (7:05) because it's far too hot here. (7:06) We're expecting it to be in the 30s by Thursday, Friday.(7:13) And, you know, people up north, we're not used to that kind of temperature. (7:19) But it'll just come when he's ready. (7:22) So everything's more or less ready for him.(7:25) So it'll be great. (7:26) A little breeze outside too, which is always good. (7:29) A little, yeah.(7:31) Not much, but a little. (7:33) But it's just nice. (7:34) Like where the bit of the garden that we've been working on, (7:38) it's all about... (7:39) I've done my herb garden and everything.(7:41) That's what I was doing out there today. (7:44) So it smells lovely and I've got loads and loads of sage. (7:47) So I've hung it up to dry.(7:48) It smells delightful in our kitchen. (7:51) So getting back to... (7:53) Yes, sorry. (7:53) What's my first? (7:54) No, it's perfect, my wine does that all the time.(7:58) And I can't remember words, but words come out of my mouth (8:00) and they're not the right words. (8:02) The... (8:03) I don't know how effective this is, (8:06) but I'm going to try it for the rest of the year. (8:07) I'm going to concentrate on one aspect of problems.(8:11) And two articles in the online paper, (8:16) two talks, an online talk. (8:19) The nice thing about it is I could sit down (8:22) and do all my social media in a block. (8:24) You know? (8:26) Instead of, oh, I've got to write something.(8:28) If you're not, it's just like... (8:30) So I think it works. (8:33) I think it's a system that's going to work for me. (8:37) Now, will I get new clients from it? (8:39) I don't know.(8:40) Let's hope. (8:40) It's all about generating that interest though, isn't it? (8:45) And seeing where you go from there. (8:49) And the thing is that people do need... (8:51) Most people need to see something several times (8:53) before they'll act on it.(8:54) Yeah. (8:56) You'll have to put some videos out, Denise. (8:58) I do have a couple.(9:00) I've been doing it. (9:01) I've been making videos this weekend. (9:04) So as soon as we finish here, (9:05) I'm going to make a video to go out tomorrow morning.(9:08) So... (9:09) Do you make it with a topic in mind or a modality in mind? (9:15) It depends. (9:16) Yes, it's got to have something behind it, hasn't it? (9:20) So the one that I did for this morning, I made yesterday. (9:24) And it was for children's behaviours when they're anxious.(9:29) So talking is... (9:31) It was directed at parents. (9:33) I can change it. (9:34) But the one I'm doing tonight, as we've finished, (9:38) is about a parent cafe.(9:42) Cafe. (9:43) What's a cafe for? (9:44) Cafe. (9:45) I don't know.(9:46) A parent cafe. (9:47) So I'm going to run a parent cafe every Thursday, 10am to 5pm. (9:52) In real life or online? (9:54) No, online.(9:56) Via Zoom. (9:57) And I'm going to run it ev

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH  www.healandberadiant.com      [email protected]

Les Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts, in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about the fascinating (0:14) world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and (0:22) specialist in working with children. And I'm a retired medical doctor (0:26) and consultant hypnotist. We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So let's get on with the episode. (0:36) Hello everybody and welcome. So we're way into season nine now, aren't we, Denise? (0:43) We are indeed.Talking to a lot of our friends (0:45) and a lot of our colleagues. So I want to introduce John Scanlon. He's a hypnotherapist, (0:53) a trainer and creator, organizer of the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference.He practices in Ireland (1:03) and he specializes in working with clients with trauma, adoption related issues, FND, (1:11) functional neurological disorder and identity change. John also trains therapists in both (1:19) working with trauma, FND and adoption. And he's developed wonderful techniques, (1:27) such as the Little Star and Lighthouse, which John's going to talk about today.(1:32) So welcome, John. It's nice to have you on. (1:35) Thank you.Nice to meet you. (1:38) And you, Denise. We haven't met in person.We'll have to fix that. (1:41) Okay. When we figure out whether we're going to be able to fly from the US to anywhere (1:47) very soon.Anyway, so what are you going to talk to us about today? (1:53) I'm going to Hypnothots in what, six weeks time? Be in Las Vegas. (1:57) Vegas. (1:59) Opposite side to you, isn't it? (2:01) Yeah, I'm in Delaware.It's a long way away from Vegas. (2:04) It's a long way away. (2:05) As far away as here.(2:08) It is a very good place to have a function though. So many hotels. (2:14) Yeah, it is.It's a nice place. (2:17) Wow. (2:18) Anyway, sir, so what are you going to talk to us about Lighthouse? The only thing I know about (2:21) Lighthouse is the shipping aspect of them.So what does it mean to you? (2:26) What is it? Okay. Well, I'll tell you what it is and I'll tell you how I got there. So (2:33) Lighthouse is a model for identity change.(2:37) And I suppose how I got there was that from working with people with trauma and working (2:43) with people with FND and being adopted myself, it changes. I won't say even with adoption, (2:50) it doesn't even change who you are. You become somebody at a very early age and it's not (2:55) always who you wanted to be.And particularly, I suppose, when I started to work with functional (3:01) issues and people couldn't drive and there were so many things they couldn't do that they lost (3:06) the ability to believe in themselves. They lost the ability to be able to do things that (3:11) most of us take for granted. (3:13) To project the future.(3:14) Yeah. (3:16) I mean, you think about the loss of freedom of not being able to drive and not being able to walk. (3:21) You know, that loss of freedom, and if you have it for a couple of years, and I've worked with (3:25) people who've had it for 10 and 15 years, and it just literally, it's a gradual thing, but it does (3:32) change them bit by bit by bit.And suddenly what's available to them is no longer available (3:38) in their own mind. So what Lighthouse came from was a process that I developed where we clear the (3:47) past to a large degree, and we help people to clear the nervous systems and start to reset the (3:52) systems and all that. And what I've always used is the process called Little Star, which is a (3:59) connection back to a very simple idea.It's a really simple idea, which is that we're born as (4:08) unlimited potential and resources, pretty much. We're born confident, we're born resilient. (4:14) And I know we're born confident, and I know we're born resilient because we learn to walk, (4:19) and we fall hundreds of times on the journey, but we get back up each and every time.(4:24) And when we're hungry as a child, we don't really care what you're doing. We're going to say, (4:30) feed me. I don't care.Just give me food. Right? So we're born confident, we're born resilient, (4:35) and we're born with curiosity and joy and so much else. Life knocks it out of us.(4:41) So Little Star was a process that would bring people back to that essence of who they were, (4:47) along with every positive thing that ever happened to them, and taking the lessons then from the not (4:53) so positive stuff, if you want. And the real thing was, I suppose, the first thing I would (4:59) tell my clients each and every time is, everything before today is over. And your left hemisphere (5:06) knows that, but your right hemisphere is now going, but what about, because I'm running this (5:10) loop from whenever, and Little Star journey is a process that says, right, everything before (5:17) today is over.We put a marker here to mark it, and then we start to look forward. And then it (5:23) became, well, what are the tools that people need? So if you think about what a lighthouse is, (5:29) it's an initially, I probably would have thought about it as a beacon, something that could, (5:34) you know, light the way for you. But actually, now it's become more that no matter whether it's (5:41) a storm outside, or whether it's raining, or whether the sun is shining, the lighthouse is (5:45) still solid.It doesn't matter what's going on around it. So if you can instill in people, (5:53) the beliefs, and more importantly, the identities that they want, (5:59) then they're solid within that environment, no matter what's going on around them. (6:03) It also becomes a guide for them.Yeah. So it's based on logical levels. And it is based on that (6:11) logic NLP logical level model.And I do it for two reasons. One is that I use it as a way to (6:20) clear out any remaining bits that might be left. And the other is I use it as a way to install.(6:26) So if you think about it, if we try and change a behavior, but there's a value attached to it, (6:31) and once upon a time, people would have called that secondary gaming, they still do. (6:35) I don't, it's the real game. It's the real reason why people do it.(6:40) You know, you can change, it can be hidden from them. That's the problem. (6:44) Most people aren't aware.Most people aren't aware consciously of that hidden game. (6:49) Correct. Yeah, absolutely.But it's the real reason that goes behind it. And if you try and (6:55) change the behavior, and the value doesn't change, or something higher up that chain doesn't change, (7:00) then suddenly, you may get short term gain, but you won't get that long term thing that people (7:05) are looking for. So what Lighthouse became was a way to clear that stuff for once and for all the (7:11) remaining bits that might have been left, but also to give people a semblance of, they might even see (7:17) a picture in their mind and go, it doesn't bother me now, you know, you can still just get rid of (7:21) it once and for all.And then connect them back to the, the work that was done up to that point, (7:28) which was the star journey, basically everything before today is over. But you're bringing with (7:33) you a toolkit now, that includes all the positive things that have ever happened to you, plus all (7:39) the stuff that you were born with, and then start to build the identity from identity down. Define (7:46) who it is that you, we are, I am, and then work down through the values, work down through the (7:52) beliefs, work down through the behaviors, and ultimately, the environment changes itself.(7:57) And that literally is what Lighthouse is. Now, it was originally developed from working with trauma, (8:03) but actually, most of us arrive at who we are by default. And, and if we try and think about (8:11) how we might want to do something, and there's internal resistance for, or, you know, it's kind (8:17) of like, I use this for everybody at this stage, whether they've had trauma or not.(8:21) Mm hmm. And you don't always know what's traumatic to somebody. (8:28) Well, trauma is perceived, perceived meaning.It's there, exactly. Especially if they were little. (8:37) Correct.Absolutely correct. And what Lighthouse allows me to do is help people to create the (8:43) future they want. Very clearly.Yeah. When did you develop it? About 18 months ago, (8:50) about 18 months ago, I'd say. Okay.And because I was getting to that stage where (8:55) people were, they were, they cleared the reasons that came in the first place, but now they were (9:01) going, what goes next? Yeah. So it kind of was demand driven, almost. Okay.Yeah. You know. (9:09) How long have you been inhibitors? How long have you been inhibitors? 10 years.Okay. 10 years. (9:15) There was a real surge of, I trained in 2019.You were a couple of years before me, Les. (9:23) 2015. 2015, yeah.(9:24) We seem to be a lot of people all of a sudden in this. We're a big cohort of recent people. (9:32) Do you think 2015, 2016, there was nothing else to do? (9:39) We all must have known something was coming, that we were going to be sitting on Zoom.(9:45) Helping people all over the world. Yeah, yeah. Can I ask you, John, (9:49) how do you use this model? Because I know you work with people who are adopted and are going (9:57) through that journey.How do you use this model? Is it to help them to find their identity? (10:04) It's to help them create it to a large, sorry, create the one they want. (10:10) Okay. Yeah.(10:11) Not, I mean, they have an identity, right? Yeah, of course, yeah. (10:14) If you think about, say, people with adoption,

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH                                                                       [email protected] www.healandberadiant.com

Les Roberts ACH                                               [email protected]  www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk

 Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Biller-Mejia, in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts, in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about the fascinating (0:14) world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and (0:22) specialist in working with children. And I'm a retired medical doctor (0:26) and consultant hypnotist. We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So, let's get on with the episode. (0:37) Episode three. Hello again.(0:39) Episode three already. I know, it'll be nine before we blink. (0:44) Anyway, my dear, today we're going to talk about just you and me, because you and me (0:48) are who's on the call.It was a great call last week with Melanie. It's very nice of her to come (0:53) on. Last time we spoke, we talked about your business.So, can I be a little bit selfish (0:59) and say, let's talk about mine for a minute. That's not being selfish at all, of course. (1:03) I've got my, all of my marketing work is now, for June, is pushing towards something.I haven't (1:14) decided the actual date, but before the end of June, I will do a webinar on hypnosis and pain. (1:19) Not to teach hypnotists, although they're welcome to join me, but to talk to the general public (1:26) about whether pain is really useful. And pain can be useful, but hypnosis is really useful (1:33) for getting rid of it.That's the idea. Yeah. And it's really funny, isn't it? It's been in (1:43) the public arena since the early 1800s.Actually, the late 1700s, but early 1800s is when they (1:54) labeled it hypnosis. That's when it got the name. And it has been, it's been this sort of, (2:00) we've talked about hypnosis for 10 years and then it'll go away.It just disappears for another 20. (2:05) Then it comes back again and disappears again. It is having a bit of a time, I think.Maybe the (2:10) internet is part of that, but I am constantly annoyed at how little I knew about it when I was (2:19) a doctor. I'm amazed that I wasn't taught in medical school, particularly since both of our, (2:25) both English and American health associations, for doctors, said it should be taught in medical (2:32) school. Yeah, I totally agree.I think it should. I think also, I think our local, (2:39) like general practitioners, our doctors need to be aware that there is other alternatives out there (2:47) than what we want. So I know that you're going to talk about pain, which I will be quiet in a (2:53) minute and let you talk about.But I do think when you go to our GPs, when you go to our local (3:02) doctors and you, you're not quite sure, you know, of like, why, why you feel the way you feel? (3:08) Is it anxiety? Is it pain? Is it lack of sleep? Is it, you know, all of the things, not one of them. (3:15) And I mean, not one of them, in my experience, thinks of hypnosis as a first call. They think, (3:24) I don't mind it not being the first call, because there's a lot of legal and medical (3:29) legal things that are going on.Well, at least by the second or third time, (3:34) yeah. And you're writing yet another pain prescription, which you also hoping works, (3:39) but you know, everybody reacts to drugs and to hypnosis differently. Yeah, different types of (3:46) hypnosis work for different people.So you need to find somebody that you're comfortable chatting (3:52) with. And that, you know, you feel like a simpatico with the hypnotist, because you're (3:58) going to be working together to find those things that really speak to your subconscious. (4:03) Yeah.Get rid of the pain. Yeah. I've just picked a client, a lady for six sessions.And she was, (4:15) she went to her doctors and her doctor said, why don't we try hypnosis? (4:22) Had you spoken to the doctor? How did that person? Why is he so different from the other 99%? (4:28) No, I haven't spoken to him yet or her. But however, I have got permission to (4:36) write to the doctor afterwards when we finished her sessions. (4:40) It's interesting how different I think it's because I'm a doctor myself originally.(4:44) Yeah, but I it's a it's mandatory that I can communicate with the doctor. Yeah, they often (4:51) don't call me back. But I get to at least say, do you have any objections? Do you realize that (4:57) XYZ problem? But when I then the opportunity to tell me other things about the patient that they (5:03) may not have told me? Yeah, because yeah, definitely.And I know a few few a few minutes (5:10) ago, I don't want to think that I'm contradicting myself. And I know a few minutes ago, I said that (5:15) I have never had a referral from a doctor. This is wasn't a referral to me.This was just a referral. (5:23) The object Google hypnosis. Yeah.Yeah, she is she hyper local? She like (5:32) she's about three, four miles away from me. So yeah, she's very nice. Yeah.Yeah. Which is great. (5:38) May I ask what kind of pain she's dealing with? (5:41) She has been in a couple of RTAs.And she's just suffers with with this pain (5:49) constantly. traffic accident, I'm assuming. Yeah, our acronyms are different than yours.(5:54) Oh, sorry. Yeah. accident.And she's struggling with with pain. But this lovely lady is also got (6:05) fibromyalgia. Yeah, she's lovely.We're enjoying. We're enjoying the session. She's she's really (6:12) lovely.So well, if anybody listens to last week's episode where we were talking to Melanie McCall, (6:18) who I've currently I'm currently using her system. She's she's she and her husband Sean have built (6:26) out a great system where the website and all the things that you need to have a business all (6:31) mesh. It's in one place.She was the reason for that. That is the impetus for me to get (6:38) super organized for a change instead of this fake organized. And all of my marketing tools (6:46) this month, meaning June, because right, is to have the person with chronic pain, hear about (6:58) hypnosis.Yeah, I truly don't mind if you don't come to me, but please look into it for your for (7:04) your pain. So I'm hoping that the audience that will come to the webinar will be a mixture of (7:11) patients. Yeah, but we've we've had this conversation before, Denise, if you remember from (7:17) season eight, where I told you when I used to work for our National Health Service, there was (7:25) a department called MSK, which is musculoskeletal.One of their managers actually said to me, (7:34) because it is when I was training to be an NLP practitioner. And one of their managers said to (7:39) me, I wish that you could get involved with the the clients, because there's a lot of patients, (7:46) you call them as a lot of patients that come in that have psychosomatic pain. (7:52) It makes sense, doesn't it really make sense.And it's not all it isn't necessarily that (8:00) psychosomatic pain, because we know it also works in the acute phase as well. People can have whole (8:08) big time operations under hypnosis, not recommended for everybody. It is for people who can't use (8:15) standard anesthesia.But it is amazing. And for those people who have experienced it, (8:23) you can't understand why the rest of the world doesn't know. I don't know whether we exactly all (8:29) the TV shows I've ever seen this one recently, I'm not saying answer anymore.They've always got (8:34) that sort of boom part on instead of just playing. It's just a technique that will make life easier (8:42) for you. Go and talk to a hypnotist find out.I don't know a hypnotist at all. He doesn't do a (8:48) free consultation. That's not true.I do know a couple that charge and that money is put towards (8:53) your first session. But yeah, most don't charge most I don't charge you. I don't.I don't. It's (8:59) usually we just if the only thing our business was doing was educating people on hypnosis, (9:06) we'd be happy. We are happier if we can pay the rent as well.But the important thing is to get (9:12) the word out there. It is this really good. And especially like you said, what what you're working (9:18) on it with pain with you know, with pain relief.It's really, really important because it takes (9:23) over your life, doesn't it? Yeah, exactly. It becomes everything you wake up and you think, (9:30) am I awake? I must be awake because I can feel it. You know, the pain's there right from the get go.(9:36) Yeah. Yeah, it's not good, is it? But I think I think if we keep ringing the bell and keep, (9:42) you know, banging our drums and everything, I think eventually some of it is going to start (9:47) trickling through. And I do think because we're getting more organized, the internet is a wonderful (9:52) thing.Yeah, real gift from God. We we can communicate with you. We spoke to Melanie in (9:58) Florida, we're going to be speaking to other people in England and other farther flung people.And (10:05) hypnotists themselves aren't working in a little silo anymore. We're able to go to meetings virtually (10:11) instead of having to find the money to fly to Australia, which is great, because now I know, (10:17) probably a few thousand hypnotists. Yeah.And where I could name, if I really force myself, (10:24) I could name a hundred. But people you recognize or subjects, you know, (10:30) yeah, my mind, I know, I know him,

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH                                                                       [email protected] www.healandberadiant.com

Les Roberts ACH                                               [email protected]  www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk

Melanie McCool  CHt                                                                      [email protected]  Hypnosis Education Association President   

Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Villamih here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about the fascinating (0:14) world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.I'm a clinical hypnotherapist (0:21) and specialist in working with children. And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant (0:28) to hypnosis. We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.So let's get on with the episode. (0:37) Hi. So today we get to welcome Melanie McCall, who is, she's not my boss, but she runs a program (0:45) I'm now taking great advantage of in getting my practice out into the public world.Melanie is the (0:55) founder of Hypnobiz in a Box. And everything is a win, which sounds great for hypnosis. (1:02) And she is also the current president of, I'll get this title right, Hypnosis Education Association.(1:10) Okay, good. Since I'm just joining, I ought to remember the name. (1:16) Melanie, why don't you go ahead and talk about yourself a little bit.And then I think you (1:21) were going to talk about overwhelm for hypnotists. Was that the topic? (1:27) So I'm Melanie McCall. I'm the entrepreneur's hypnotherapist.And my specialty is actually in (1:35) helping entrepreneurs through the, well, the many things that we deal with, but especially (1:42) burnout. So I have a protocol that I've developed for people who have experienced (1:50) extreme burnout. And because, well, when I experienced that, I found that the ways that (1:59) people typically said to get help were not working.Now I, so I, yeah. (2:08) Can I just interrupt you for a sec? Was this when you were working in the business world? (2:13) Yes, exactly. So, and I started in business in 2000.I know that's so easy. And it's 25 (2:20) because my daughter's 25 years old because I got started to be her mom, like working from home. (2:26) So I was learning online business and all kinds of things that I had never done before in my life, (2:34) but I did and I became very successful.And, you know, this term, this idea of like being (2:39) very successful from the outside. Well, yes, I was very successful on the outside and my life (2:46) and, you know, it appeared, but in, but inside I was clearly not well. I was overworking and (2:54) there's many reasons for that, which I'm not going to go into necessarily.But what I can tell you (3:02) is when I went, when I got to this point where I, I could not work. So unmitigated stress, (3:10) okay, this is, this is the, the cause of burnout and the world health organization actually (3:19) caused this a, um, a mental syndrome caused from unmitigated workplace stress. So I'm just going (3:28) to put that out there because so many people use the word burnout all the time for all kinds of (3:32) things.Um, but I think, I do kind of think it's kind of odd. You know, they just call it workplace (3:37) place stress because it costs corporations like trillions of dollars a year. (3:43) Yeah.But when you're, when you're an entrepreneur, you're not in an organization that's spending (3:50) trillions to help you. If you're an entrepreneur and you burn out, you literally are taken out. (3:56) So burnout is characterized by three main symptoms.I can, you can tell where somebody (4:02) is on this path by where they're at. Number one is that kind of overwhelmed, but (4:10) exhaustion that you cannot rest from. So you can sleep, you can do yoga, you can meditate, (4:18) you can go on vacation, you could do, and your body literally just does not do the healing it (4:24) needs.That's one. When that continues unmitigated, um, two, you start to get really, (4:32) I just think of it as a cynical phase. Like I hate this thing.I built this to have freedom (4:37) in my life. And instead I hate this. I want to burn it all to the ground.That's, that's phase (4:43) two. When you get to the third, well, you're out of the game. Basically it's lack of productivity.(4:51) Then I'm going to pause there because that's why corporations spend trillions. (4:55) Lack of productivity is what they want. But again, for a, for a business owner, (5:03) lack of productivity means you literally cannot support yourself anymore.I had no idea that this (5:08) could happen. Um, I had, I, when I think back through time, I think I probably burned out four (5:15) times before the big one where I literally couldn't think myself my way out of a paper bag. (5:22) I couldn't.And I was really scared. I'd, you know, at that point I'd been in business for (5:27) almost two decades, my children and our whole lifestyle was built on me being (5:32) a business owner with online business. Um, so I really struggled.I was, I had like massive (5:41) symptoms. And these are all, again, we're going to say the, the burn, they call it burnout as a (5:47) workplace syndrome or, you know, because work workplace stress, but we are not in a vacuum. (5:54) Right.There's family stress. There's the, uh, your, the economies, the, whatever the heck, (6:01) the, all the things around you are all piled on top. Right.So, uh, the idea that it's just from (6:08) work is silly. Um, but I, but all I knew is that I had to, I had to save myself, um, for the sake of (6:16) my family, probably always because of, for somebody else more so than me. Um, and I, I was meditating (6:25) a lot.So if you're familiar with like Dr. Joe's dispensers work, and I mean, when I was listening (6:32) I had, I have such a library of good recordings to share, like really do meditating a lot, (6:41) but I found that it was as if I was coming up against a wall that went to my healing. Like I (6:50) knew that there was just something I couldn't do myself. And I don't know what I searched online to (6:56) get the answers back that, um, led me down the path of getting help from a hypnotherapist, (7:04) but I basically read, which I now can translate as a hypnotherapist gets past the critical factor, (7:11) the critical faculty, or the gatekeeper as we think of it as, and can help me with the insomnia, (7:20) heart palpitations, muscle wasting, anxiety, (7:28) anger, all the things that were wildly out of control.I said, well, you don't have to tell (7:33) me twice, like, hello, I need help. And in the process of getting help, it was like, I just (7:42) imagine this Tetris game happening. All of these pieces were falling into place for me.(7:49) I had worked with literally tens of thousands of people across the world for almost two decades at (7:55) this point, and I saw all of their patterns so clearly. It was really amazing. And I realized (8:05) then that all of that time, all I was ever wanting to do was to help adults to reach their potential (8:12) and to get out of their own way and to do the things that they were passionate about and the (8:17) good life changing things that the services that they provide to humanity.And that's kind of a (8:24) big thing, but I do, I believe that people I get to work with are people who are doing good. So I (8:29) want to free them from their limitations. But back before I was a hypnotist, I didn't have any tools (8:34) to do that.I couldn't say, you know what you've, I've taught you everything I know about sales and (8:40) marketing. You've been in my classes for seven years and you still, the term self-sabotage. (8:51) And I couldn't say, you know what, I think back before I couldn't say, I think, you know, (8:56) you should probably get some therapy for that.Like I didn't have the permission and I didn't (9:01) have the tools and I couldn't talk to people like that. But when I got hypnotherapy, I was like, (9:09) oh, my goodness. I was like, not only did I need that, obviously, because I had to unlearn (9:19) so many habits that were.Yeah. And hypnosis does make that a lot faster for you. It was (9:25) incredible.Like I said, hypnosis and self-hypnosis. Once I got the, the, you know, I think of it as I (9:32) got the weeds out first, right? You can't plant the garden with self-hypnosis and all the good (9:37) things without the weeds. So a hypnotherapist helped me get rid of the weeds and then planting (9:41) the seeds of good habits, getting rid of the bad ones that were keeping me stressed and dying.(9:49) But yeah, at that point I was like, honestly, I, I realized I'd already pretty much stopped (9:55) my business. It took me easily four to six months to even heal enough to do something again. (10:02) I remember waking up and going, oh my gosh, my entrepreneur mind is back online.Thank goodness. (10:08) Like, I'm not going to, you know, I don't, I didn't know what I was going to do. Am I going (10:12) to go be a teacher again? I didn't know what I was going to do.And, um, but when I did, (10:18) I was like, I'm not going back to that same old world. I'm going to do this work. (10:24) Wow.Yeah. And

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH www.healandberadiant.com       [email protected]

Les Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more (0:14) about the fascinating world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.(0:19) I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and specialist in working with children. (0:25) And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant hypnotist. (0:30) We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So let's get on with the episode. (0:36) How about your presentation or everybody else's presentations? (0:40) It's fine. (0:41) It was an amazing weekend.(0:44) Absolutely exhausting, but an amazing weekend. (0:48) So I went to Hypnotic 2026 in Antwerp, Belgium. (0:54) Who's the governing body that organizes that? (0:58) Naila, her name is.(1:01) Naila, yeah. (1:02) So and her lovely sidekick Angelique, which she's such a lovely, lovely person. (1:08) I made some very good contacts there.(1:11) Some really, really nice people. (1:13) Met some lovely people and caught up with two of at least two of our guests. (1:18) Or could potentially could be three.(1:20) And it was just a fantastic weekend. (1:24) And they really look after you in Belgium. (1:27) Shame they couldn't save your throat.(1:29) I know. (1:30) So we were fed and we were watered regularly. (1:34) And it was such a lovely, lovely experience.(1:38) And it was just great. (1:39) It was just lovely, but it was so, so tiring. (1:42) Because you know, and I'm sure everybody else knows who networks.(1:46) The minute you hit the ground is the minute you start to network. (1:51) Yeah, so even over breakfast, you're talking to people. (1:54) Then you're attending presentations on the Saturday and the Sunday.(2:01) So you can consistently talk. (2:04) Non-stop. (2:05) Yeah, so.(2:06) How late did the conference go? (2:08) Did you get a decent night's sleep? (2:09) Did you get any social time built in? (2:11) Yeah, there was a little bit of social time. (2:13) Like we got, I flew in on the Thursday. (2:17) So I had the Thursday evening with one of my colleagues, Cara.(2:22) And then on the Friday, Jackie Thompson, another one of our colleagues. (2:27) She met us for breakfast and we spent the day in Antwerp. (2:32) We were tourists for the day.(2:33) We had lunch in Antwerp and then we came back to the hotel. (2:37) The hotel's quite a distance from the town. (2:39) So you have to either get an Uber or you have to get the bus.(2:44) So it's quite a distance. (2:46) And then on the Friday evening, we did some more networking, some more talking. (2:51) Everybody was there, you know, everybody was arriving ready for the Saturday morning.(2:56) It was just a brilliant convention. (2:59) Very, very well run. (3:01) Very put together, you know, so, so well.(3:04) And Neela and Anjali just ran it perfectly. (3:08) It was lovely. (3:09) All right.(3:10) So let's go with who did you listen to during the talk then? (3:15) I listened to quite a few people. (3:16) I listened to Jackie, of course. (3:18) And I listened to Cara.(3:20) I also went to John Scanlon because every time John has appeared at the UK, (3:27) I've never been able to see him because it's always ran against something else. (3:31) Either I'm talking or, you know, so I've always missed John. (3:36) So that was very, very good.(3:39) John is going to be a guest. (3:40) John's going to be a guest, yeah, during the season. (3:42) I also went to see Nicole Wackenegels.(3:47) Nicole was talking about what she does, (3:50) this wonderful thing to help with surgeries. (3:54) So nobody has any anesthetic. (3:57) It's all to do with hypnosis.(3:59) Really? (3:59) What sort of surgeries does she work with? (4:04) I don't think it's anything really, (4:06) but I think it's anything to do with any musculoskeletal or anything. (4:12) I know in Belgium particularly, (4:18) it's fairly well established for those patients who cannot undergo regular anesthesia. (4:27) There are a few conditions that make it difficult.(4:30) For those of you that don't know, (4:31) Nicole's from Switzerland and she runs the Swiss Hypnosis. (4:37) And I met her husband, Jacob. (4:39) What a gentleman.(4:40) Absolutely lovely gentleman. (4:42) I also went to, on the Sunday, I went to Giancarlo Russo's presentation. (4:52) What an extraordinary guy.(4:55) If we can get him on here one time, it would be amazing. (4:59) It would be lovely. (5:00) I haven't heard him since.(5:01) He was a presenter with the Elman conference about two, three years ago. (5:08) Yeah. (5:09) He was very helpful when a friend of mine had a stroke.(5:14) Because he's a physio, isn't he? (5:16) As well as a physiotherapist, yeah. (5:20) I've seen quite a few of these things on YouTube, yeah. (5:23) I also went to see a guy, I forgot his name, I do apologize.(5:28) And he did all havening and he did havening with hypnosis. (5:33) An Irish guy, such a gentleman. (5:35) So I'm hoping to see him in Ireland.(5:39) He was very, very good. (5:41) Get him on the show. (5:43) Well, I will actually.(5:45) I'll try and get him on if we can. (5:47) He was just fantastic. (5:49) And it made me look at the things that I do with children.(5:52) You know, when children are struggling with their feelings, (5:56) struggling with their emotions, if they can do the havening themselves, (6:01) then, you know, it would be great. (6:03) And I know he actually did it, you know, to someone, (6:06) but I just think it would be so, so good. (6:08) Yeah.(6:10) So I'm very, very interested in what he does. (6:12) So yeah, do you know what? (6:13) I shall email him and see if I can get him on. (6:16) If not, it will be next season.(6:19) But all together, it was such a lovely, lovely environment. (6:23) And everybody supported everybody. (6:26) Can you guesstimate how many people were there? (6:29) And how many countries were represented? (6:33) People don't seem to realize how far flung hypnosis is.(6:38) It's well-established in Iran, for example. (6:41) Yeah. (6:42) So there was the UK, of course.(6:47) There was American hypnotists there. (6:50) Giancarlo's Italian. (6:53) Nicole is Swiss.(6:55) John is Irish. (6:57) Cara's from Scotland. (6:59) Paulina's from Scotland as well.(7:01) And I'm trying to think who else was there. (7:04) There was a lot of Belgium hypnotists. (7:06) Of course.(7:07) Rob was there. (7:08) Rob de Grasse was there as well. (7:12) I'm trying to think who else was there.(7:13) Quite a few British, quite a few English, British people. (7:17) Oh, that's close. (7:19) Yeah, so I mean, people did travel, didn't they? (7:22) A lot of people flew in.(7:24) Oh, there was Astrid as well. (7:26) Astrid's from the Netherlands. (7:29) And the lady from Portugal.(7:31) She was amazing. (7:32) I went to see her speech as well. (7:35) It was all about narcissistic behavior.(7:38) She was absolutely fantastic. (7:40) She runs the Portuguese one as well. (7:43) Oh, yeah.(7:44) I'm going to go to the Portuguese one. (7:47) We'll see. (7:48) We'll see.(7:49) If you're going to be a speaker at one of the European ones, (7:53) do you have to speak in the language of the country? (7:57) No, the majority. (7:58) I would, well, I would say everybody. (8:01) I assume you were not speaking Nederlands when you were in Mantua.(8:04) Well, everybody, everybody was speaking English. (8:08) Everybody presented in English. (8:10) Yeah, that's the embarrassing thing about Europe, isn't it? (8:14) And then you look at me and get, speaking English, a bit of schoolgirl French.(8:18) Yeah, it was, it was just, it was just so, so nice. (8:22) It was, it was quite relaxed as well. (8:24) Even though it was busy, it was quite relaxed, you know, (8:28) and there was plenty of time for talking to people.(8:32) Everybody broke for lunch at the same time. (8:34) It was one central thing where, because lunch was provided, (8:38) we all stayed within, you know, that area of the hotel where we all had lunch. (8:44) And it just seemed to, it just seemed to sit nicely.(8:50) You know, it wasn't, I can only speak for London and Belgium now (8:54) because I haven't done the Irish. (8:55) What were the, what were the topics that you most appreciated? (9:00) Because you've been in the business now for 10 years. (9:03) So, yeah.(9:05) So, as a newbie, everything is amazing, (9:09) but you've probably been to several conferences now. (9:11) What did you feel was most groundbreaking for you? (9:15) Mine, the Havening. (9:16) The Havening definitely, for me, that was just fantastic.(9:20) And it was something that I thought, this is definitely something I want to bring in (9:25) and have as my, you know, as part of my toolbox. (9:29) Jackie's talk about the inner child was really, really interesting, (9:34) about how we can look, you know, even, even though I see the children, (9:39) I always look at the parents as well and see where the parents are coming from. (9:43) And sometimes you can see they need a little bit of inner child work and everything.(9:49) Cara, of course, neurodivergent, which I see neurodivergent children as well. (9:54) So, there were, I don't think there was anything that I didn't take away (9:58) from each and every one that I sat and watched. (10:03) Even Nicole's, you know, even though I don't, I don't want to do surgery, (10:09) I think it's just helped me to sort of think, (10:12) how can I use those sorts of tools in an indirect way? (10:16) It's also, it also helps you to refer people too.(10:20) Yes. (10:20) To let people know it exists. (10:22) Yeah, definitely.(10:24) And also to help the chil

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH www.healandberadiant.com  [email protected]

Les Roberts www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

Cheryl Elman www.elmanhypnosis.com      [email protected]

0:00) Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about the fascinating (0:14) world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.I'm a clinical hypnotherapist (0:21) and specialist in working with children. And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant (0:28) hypnotist. We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.So let's get on with the episode. (0:38) Hi, welcome again. And today we're going to talk to Cheryl Ellman, who some of you may (0:44) remember from before when Marta was recording us, but Cheryl has been a hypnotist for some time.(0:51) And this time she's going to talk about another favourite subject that she likes. (0:55) Okay, take it away, Cheryl. (0:59) Hi, everybody.It's such a pleasure to be with the two of you here. (1:07) Lots been going on in the last year or two. But I wanted to say that back in 2011, (1:14) I was at Shelley Stockwell Nicholas's conference in California, and I met a woman named Joan (1:22) Goulding.And Joan, we got to talking and she had been married to her husband. He had passed away (1:30) and they had a school in Victoria, Australia. And they taught hypnosis.Interestingly enough, (1:40) it was illegal to do hypnosis in Victoria. But what they did was they could teach it, (1:47) but you couldn't hypnotize anybody. So the interesting thing of what they did is they (1:51) went through the coursework.It was like, I think, a two-year course. And then they took (1:56) a bus to another province, another state, and went into like a couple of weeks of really like (2:05) hypnotizing each other and going through all the practice stuff and came back and they graduated. (2:14) So she fought for years to get it legalized in Victoria.So she had a daughter. (2:25) Do you happen to know why it wasn't when it was allowed in the rest of Australia? (2:34) Yeah. No, but there are states in the United States that Israel, you have to be a certain (2:45) doctor to take a certain course to do hypnosis.So there's different things in different countries. (2:52) And also the whole country, Israel requires you to be a physician. (2:58) Yeah.Yeah. (2:59) Anyway, let's get back to Australia. So what did she do? (3:04) So Joan had a daughter and she and her husband, her first husband, had moved.They were, (3:15) what do you call them? Poms? They had moved from England. 10 pound pom, I think it was. (3:20) 10 pound pom, yeah.(3:22) Right. And they moved to Australia. And so she had one daughter and she always felt like (3:32) she was a little clumsy.She wasn't really speaking. And then she had another daughter, (3:38) almost like Irish twins. They were pretty close in age.And what she started to notice is Teresa (3:45) was doing all of the, she was following, instead of following her older sister Michelle, (3:52) Michelle was always following and imitating what Teresa was doing. (3:57) So she and her husband had separated. And meanwhile, Joan had gone to speak to psychologists, (4:09) to schools.She had them in different schools. And Michelle, she'd come in and she saw Michelle (4:17) in this corner. And she really didn't have language.And so all this was going on. And (4:24) then one time her ex-husband had come to take the girls for the weekend and never returned them. (4:33) And she was looking for them.And so he had basically kidnapped them. And so it was nine (4:42) months later, he returned Michelle, who was difficult to deal with because there wasn't (4:46) much communication and

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH www.healandberadiant.com [email protected]

Les Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more (0:14) about the fascinating world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.(0:19) I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and specialist in working with children. (0:24) And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant hypnotist. (0:30) We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So let's get on with the episode. (0:38) Wow. (0:39) Hello.(0:39) Hello. (0:41) How quick have we got to this already? (0:45) I know. (0:46) This year has gone so fast.(0:50) It's a third of the way through. (0:52) We're in the middle of April. (0:53) It's ridiculous.(0:53) Anyway, so what are we going to talk about today? (0:58) I don't know. (0:59) What would you like to talk about? (1:00) I'll tell you what I've just done this morning. (1:03) I have just held a class for EFT for tapping.(1:08) I've held a workshop for children about tapping, which is really, really good for them. (1:19) I don't think we've talked about it. (1:20) I don't think I've talked with Martin about that ever.(1:23) Although we've alluded to it probably. (1:26) We were trained in it in hypno school too. (1:28) There's so much stuff that's hypnosis adjacent.(1:33) I trained in it not long after I'd qualified. (1:37) I decided to train in it because I was just gathering everything together. (1:42) And I never used it.(1:43) It was something that I thought, well, I've got. (1:46) I didn't really use it. (1:47) But now I've started using it a lot with children, with adults as well.(1:52) I saw a young gentleman just before I came on here. (1:56) And he's using it to help him just, you know, sort of calm any anxieties down. (2:05) But the kids are really enjoying it.(2:07) And it's also very, it's very easy for people to do. (2:11) And for children, you want something to be very easy for them to do. (2:16) Yeah, so for those listeners who don't know what EFT is, (2:20) it stands for emotional freedom technique.(2:23) And we can use it to help us to tap out, literally tap out any blockages. (2:31) It's also called tapping. (2:33) So if you Google emotional freedom technique or tapping, (2:37) then you will see exactly what it is.(2:40) And the reason why I use it for children is it's very, very good (2:44) for helping them to sort of manage their emotions more effectively, (2:51) rather than just to think about it. (2:53) They're actually using a subjective support really, aren't they? (2:58) And it gives them something to do when they have those feelings come up (3:02) instead of tearing things or breaking things. (3:06) Yeah, so they say that by tapping, (3:09) by just tapping at certain points on your face, on your hand, (3:14) what it does is it opens up those blockages.(3:18) So I've explained it to the children today. (3:22) Not as that, because I don't think children would understand that. (3:25) So I've used it as a little exercise that they can do (3:30) to help them to understand where they are with their emotions.(3:34) Do you want to just like re-present to us, the audience now? (3:41) It'll be easier for people who are seeing the visual instead of my podcast, (3:45) which is only audio. (3:46) But if you could say where our hands are at the time. (3:49) Yeah, so I teach the child, (3:52) I know there's quite a lot of points on your hands and you can use your side.(3:57) So what I do is I condensed it down to eight points for the children. (4:02) So they start off with the karate chop and they're just tapping there (4:06) and then they will tap then on their inner eyebrow (4:11) and then

Send us Fan Mail

Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH www.healandberadiant.com              [email protected]

Les Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected]

Wendy Woo https://www.wendywoo.uk/mymoodstars                                          Linked-in www.linkedin.com/in/motherofmoodstars

 Welcome to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts, in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who'd like to know more about the fascinating (0:14) world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and (0:22) specialist in working with children. And I'm a retired medical doctor (0:26) and consultant hypnotist. We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So let's get on with the episode. Good afternoon, good evening, or good morning, (0:44) wherever you are in the world today. We have a lovely special guest on today with Denise and I, (0:50) Two Hypnotherapists Talking.And we have the delightful Wendy White, who's joined us today. (0:56) Hello, Wendy. (0:57) Hello, I'm Les.(0:59) Hello. (0:59) Hi, Denise. (1:00) Hi.And you're freshly back from vacation, so you're all ready for this, right? (1:06) It was hot and sunny, so I was very lucky because back in the UK, you had the most awful weather, (1:14) so I was delighted. And actually, now I'm back, the weather hasn't been too bad. I just don't (1:20) think they know I'm back yet, because usually I am known as the rain woman.(1:25) Well, it's raining up here in St. Helens, and we've had very, very high winds the last, (1:32) say, two to three days. (1:33) And we, having had a 75 degree temperature in last week, are now expecting some snow. (1:41) Isn't that lovely? (1:42) More snow.More snow. (1:45) Yeah. Get three English people together and they talk about the weather.(1:48) Okay, Wendy. I haven't met you before today. Hello.Could you briefly explain to our audience (1:56) what you actually do? You're not a hypnotist, right? (2:00) It's so lovely to meet you too, Denise. Yes, now I am a retired childminder from (2:07) Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire in the UK. And I was a childminder for 22 years.(2:17) And in that time, we were governed by Ofsted, and we had to follow the Early Years Foundation stage. (2:28) So this is pretty new to us, because I registered as a childminder in 2000. (2:35) And then in 2014, I think it was, the Early Years Foundation stage came in, (2:42) and we childminders became, well, teachers that had to implement areas of learning.(2:51) Not just implement them, but evidence them as well for when Ofsted came to call. (2:56) What was the age that you were dealing with? (3:00) I looked after children from one year to nine, but the nine-year-olds tended to be after-school kids. (3:10) Well, the nine-year-olds, I'm okay with you deciding how much they should have learned in (3:14) X amount of time, but a one-year-old? Yes, a one-year-old.(3:20) Can I stand up by myself is the question. It doesn't matter how old they are, (3:25) you still have to evidence and implement their learning and their growth and their development. (3:34) Everything had to be observed and then noted, and I had a file for each of the children (3:42) with their steps, their progress, first words.Nowadays, it's all computerized, (3:50) and in the States, I think they call it Huckleberry. (3:53) Wouldn't surprise me. My kids are way older than that.(3:57) I can't remember now what the software application is, but generally now, (4:05) childminders use software applications to relay and recount everything that they've (4:11) learned from the children, all their observations. But in the old days, (4:16) everything had to be written down. It t