Transpersonal hypnotherapy

1. Introduction

Version followed: Jack Elias, Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP (2nd ed., Five Wisdoms Press, 2005), the training text of the Institute for Therapeutic Learning (ITL), Seattle. It is cross-checked against the National Association of Transpersonal Hypnotherapists (NATH) certification curriculum, which is based on Allen Chips, Clinical Hypnotherapy: A Transpersonal Approach (2nd ed.), and against the clinical chapters listed in Leskowitz (ed.), Transpersonal Hypnosis (CRC Press, 1999). The sources for these three bodies of work are their published tables of contents, course outlines, author profiles and descriptions, not their full texts, so the step-by-step procedures in Section 4 are the author's [synthesis] and session counts are [uncertain]. Tonglen (4.20) follows a published teacher's instructions. Sources also cover: Elias's role as ITL's founder and director, and ITL's status as a Washington-licensed vocational school (Goodreads author profile); the legal status of hypnotherapy practice in Washington State (2008 session law) and the UK (Professional Standards Authority); and the Royal College of Psychiatrists working group's conclusion on recovered memories (Brandon et al. 1998), which supports leaving out memory-recovery work. Past-life, prenatal, entity-release and memory-recovery procedures are deliberately left out (see Section 4, "Excluded procedures", and the Domain VI guide 110 harm account). [source: B&N listing of Elias 2005; Omega/NATH requirements PDF; Routledge listing of Leskowitz 1999; Elias Goodreads author profile]

What it is. "Transpersonal hypnotherapy" is not a single defined school or manualised therapy. The term is used by at least three separate sources, and their content overlaps only partly. [source: pages listed under Sources]

ITL / Elias lineage (Seattle, since 1988). A Transpersonal Hypnotherapy/NLP certification taught at ITL, which Elias founded and directs as a Washington-licensed vocational school. It combines hypnosis, NLP, Ericksonian methods, regression, subpersonality (parts) work, archetypal work, meditation and Eastern (Buddhist) philosophy. Elias's book was first published in 1997, and the certification training is based on it. [source: IPG; B&N; Omega teacher page; Cort blog on Goodreads; Elias Goodreads author profile] The founding year 1988 is unverified. [uncertain]
NATH / Chips lineage. A 120-hour certified-hypnotherapist (CHt) course organised around Edgar Cayce's "levels of mind" and the "superconscious". It teaches induction, deepening, interviewing, suggestive therapy, self-hypnosis and regression. NATH defines the practice as using "meditative-trance states as the primary catalyst" for change. [source: Omega/NATH PDF]
Leskowitz (ed.) 1999. An edited clinical volume with an "energy-based view of human awareness". Its chapters cover energy healing, clinical intuition, yoga and breathwork with hypnosis, animal imagery, Ericksonian hypnosis with meditation, and also past-life, prenatal, spirit-releasement and channelling chapters. [source: Routledge listing]

Core idea of change (Elias). Elias holds that ordinary thinking is itself a hypnotic trance ("egoic-minding") that contracts awareness around fear. Therapeutic hypnosis uses the same mental functions to widen awareness instead. The aim is to move clients from a contracted, fear-based state to an expansive, love-based one. Clients get there by noticing habitual states, and what triggers them, with accepting awareness, and by contacting a silent inner space between thoughts. Elias calls that space a source of "Silence, Healing Power, and Insight" and of the client's true inner Self. In this view, insight is experiential, not intellectual. [source: Cort blog on Goodreads; IPG; B&N] The "true Self", "Grace" and the Cayce "superconscious" are these traditions' own theories, not established facts. [synthesis]

Status. Transpersonal hypnotherapy certificates are vocational, not clinical licences. ITL is a Washington-licensed vocational school; its 150-hour distance programme lists no entry prerequisites and leads to no licence. NATH's CHt needs a high-school diploma. [source: Washington CareerBridge listing; Elias Goodreads author profile; Omega/NATH PDF] Legal status of practice. Washington State: the 2008 amendments to chapter 18.19 RCW require anyone practising hypnotherapy for a fee to register with the Department of Health as a hypnotherapist. The statute sets no education or examination requirement for that registration. People already registered, certified or licensed in another profession are exempt while they work within their own authorised scope. [source: Laws of 2008, ch. 135 (2SHB 2674), Washington State Legislature] Later amendments were not checked. [uncertain] United Kingdom: hypnotherapists are not regulated by law. Practitioners may join voluntary registers. The Professional Standards Authority runs an Accredited Registers programme and advises clients to check a practitioner's training, insurance and complaints process. [source: PSA hypnotherapy safety checklist] Other US states and other countries were not checked. [uncertain] For a licensed psychotherapist: use these methods only within your own scope of licence and your profession's hypnosis-training standards. A vocational CHt does not extend that scope. [synthesis, consistent with the scope-of-practice exemption in RCW 18.19.040(1)]

2. Framework

What the sources give. Elias's six "phases" are training phases, not client treatment phases:

(I) hypnosis basics, induction and trance levels, session structure, suggestibility games, quick inductions, progressive relaxation and self-hypnosis
(II) regression, NLP (anchoring, visual accessing cues), emotional energy and Eastern models of the psyche
(III) subpersonality therapy
(IV) practical strategies: shame and addiction, anaesthesia and pain relief, submodalities, time structures, tonglen and scripts
(V) myths, archetypes and polarities
(VI) shadow work, entity release, probable futures, couples and group hypnosis, and building a practice

[source: B&N listing] NATH's sequence is client interview, then induction, then deepening, then suggestion or regression. Certification requires three supervised suggestive-therapy sessions and one "Happy Childhood Regression". [source: Omega/NATH PDF] No published source gives a number of client sessions, a treatment length or criteria for moving between phases. The session numbers in the table below are the author's own estimates. [uncertain] [synthesis]

Working framework for a licensed therapist [synthesis: built from the curricula plus standard clinical-hypnosis safety practice]:

Phase	Goals	Typical format	Move on when
A. Assessment and screening	Diagnosis, risk, contraindications, the client's spiritual or religious framework, goals, expectations of hypnosis	1–2 sessions of 50–90 min	No exclusion applies or it is managed; consent is documented; the goal is framed in the present and future
B. Education and preparation	Correct myths (control, memory, "truth"); suggestibility exercises; first gentle induction	1 session	The client can enter and leave a light trance comfortably
C. Resource and stabilisation	Self-hypnosis, a safe-place or silence practice, an anchored resource state, ego-strengthening suggestion	1–3 sessions plus daily practice	The client self-soothes reliably and practises between sessions
D. Working phase	Targeted suggestion, parts dialogue, inner guidance, submodality and anchoring work, pain work, archetypal or shadow imagery as fits the goal	2–8 sessions	Measurable change on the client's own goal markers; parts conflicts are negotiated
E. Integration and ending	Make meaning of any transpersonal experiences in the client's own terms; a relapse plan; independent self-hypnosis	1–2 sessions	The client keeps the gains without the therapist; the ending is planned

Session format [synthesis, consistent with NATH's interview, induction, deepening and therapy sequence]:

Check-in and review of practice.
Agree the session aim.
Induction.
Deepening.
The intervention.
Post-hypnotic suggestions for the agreed goal only.
Full re-alerting.
Debrief and grounding.
Agree the home practice.

Screening and contraindications.

Named in sources: students and clients must be "mentally and physically fit" to give and receive hypnosis, and must disclose health conditions [source: Omega/NATH PDF]. Screen out people vulnerable to psychosis; serious reactions include first-episode schizophrenia, seizure, stupor, spontaneous dissociative episodes and the resurfacing of trauma memories during age regression [source: Gruzelier review, Goldsmiths repository].
Added [synthesis]: current or past psychosis or bipolar mania; dissociative disorders, unless you have specialist training; unstabilised PTSD; active suicidality; intoxication; epilepsy or cardiovascular disease before any breathwork element; pregnancy before intense breathwork; a client who is or may become a witness in legal proceedings (hypnosis can affect how testimony is treated, so check local law first [uncertain]).

3. Guiding principles

Ordinary mind is already trance (Elias). Treat the problem as a habitual trance the client is already in. The work is to dehypnotise, not to install something new. [source: Cort blog; IPG]
Widen rather than narrow awareness (Elias). Choose inductions and suggestions that open attention to body, space and silence, not only ones that fixate it. [source: Cort blog]
No hard wall between conscious and unconscious (Elias). Work collaboratively and in the open. Explain what you are doing and invite the client's observing awareness to stay present. [source: Cort blog]
Accepting awareness of states and triggers (Elias). Ask the client to notice when and how a state arises, without judging it, before trying to change it. [source: Cort blog]
Insight is experiential (Elias). Treat "I know it intellectually" as a marker that the felt shift has not yet happened. [source: Cort blog]
Learning without pass or fail (Elias). Frame trance and exercises as exploration. A "failed" trance is just information. [source: B&N author interview]
The client's aim of wholeness (Elias). Elias names the client's goal as being "whole and at peace" with themselves. Orient goals to that, not to symptom removal alone. [source: B&N interview]
The therapist's own daily practice (Elias). Keep up regular physical activity and meditation or contemplation, so you can stay detached from your own "internal gossip" in session. [source: Cort blog]
Meditative trance as the main catalyst (NATH). Hypnosis serves body, mind and "spiritual direction". Clarify spiritual goals only when the client brings them. [source: Omega/NATH PDF]
Levels of mind, attributed (NATH and Chips, after Cayce). Present the conscious, subconscious and superconscious model as Cayce's and Chips's teaching model, not as fact. Use it only if it fits the client's worldview. [source: Omega/NATH PDF; Goodreads listing]
Safety and fitness first (NATH; Gruzelier). Screen, disclose possible unwanted effects, and never use hypnosis with someone who is not fit for it. [source: Omega/NATH PDF; Gruzelier]
The client's worldview leads [synthesis]. Never suggest spiritual beliefs, entities, past lives or a "higher self" content. Use the client's own language and framework.
Hypnosis does not reveal historical truth [synthesis]. Do not use trance to find out what happened. Treat imagery as present-day material for meaning-making.
Scope of licence [synthesis]. Use only techniques you are trained in. A vocational CHt does not extend your licence.

4. Intervention inventory

How to read this section. The names of the interventions come from the published tables of contents and curricula: Elias 2005 (B&N listing), NATH (Omega PDF) and Leskowitz 1999 (Routledge listing). The founders' own step-by-step procedures and scripts are not published in those sources. So every "Steps" list below, apart from the tonglen stages (4.20), is the author's own reconstruction from standard clinical-hypnosis practice, marked [synthesis]. None of it is attributed to Elias, Chips or the chapter authors. [uncertain: the original procedures may differ] No past-life, regression-to-cause or other memory-recovery procedure is given as a technique. See "Excluded procedures" below and the Domain VI guide 110 harm account.

4.1 Client interview and intake

Purpose. Gather history, set the goal, screen for contraindications and agree how the client frames any spiritual content. Interviewing is a named curriculum component ("client interview methods"). [source: Omega/NATH PDF; Goodreads listing of Chips]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Take a standard psychiatric history and risk assessment.
2. Screen for the contraindications in Section 2.
3. Ask about previous hypnosis, meditation, psychedelic or spiritual experiences, and any adverse reactions to them.
4. Ask what "transpersonal" means to the client: religious, spiritual-but-not-religious, or none.
5. Turn the goal into observable present and future markers.
6. Ask whether the client is involved in any legal case.
7. Explain the limits: hypnosis does not uncover true memories or past lives, and the client stays able to stop at any time.
8. Record written consent.
Example language (illustrative). "Some people come to this work hoping to find out what 'really' happened, or who they were before. I don't use hypnosis that way. Trance can produce vivid images that feel true but aren't reliable memories. What I can offer is help with how you're living and feeling now."
Watch for. Disclosures of dissociation, voices, past psychosis, or wishes for memory recovery or past-life work. Change the plan or refer if they appear.

4.2 Suggestibility exercises ("suggestibility games")

Purpose. Show the client what hypnotic response feels like, lower fear and gauge responsiveness. Named in Elias Phase I. [source: B&N listing]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Use simple ideomotor exercises: hands drawing together, or arm heaviness or lightness.
2. Frame each one as an experiment that cannot be passed or failed.
3. Debrief what the client noticed.
4. Use the client's response style (visual, kinaesthetic, auditory) to choose the induction.
Example language (illustrative). "There's no right result here. Just notice what your hands want to do as you imagine them drawn together."
Watch for. Performance anxiety, or a strong wish to please. With highly responsive clients, use lighter trance and closer monitoring (high hypnotisability is a risk factor in Gruzelier).

4.3 Progressive relaxation induction

Purpose. A slow, body-based induction for first sessions and anxious clients. Named in Elias Phase I. [source: B&N listing]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Have the client sit upright and supported, eyes open or closed as they prefer.
2. Pace the breath.
3. Move attention region by region, with invitations to soften.
4. Use permissive wording.
5. Check comfort with an agreed finger signal.
6. Deepen (4.5) or move straight to the intervention.
Example language (illustrative). "As your attention rests on your shoulders, you might notice whether they'd like to settle a little. There's nothing to force."
Watch for. Rising anxiety from focusing on the body, which is common after trauma. If it rises, switch to eyes-open, externally focused attention.

4.4 Quick and psychophysical ("mixed") inductions

Purpose. Faster entry for practised clients. Named as "quick inductions" (Elias) and "psychophysical (mixed) induction methods" (NATH). [source: B&N listing; Omega/NATH PDF]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Use these only after the client has experienced a slow induction.
2. Choose non-startling methods, such as eye fixation with suggestions of eyelid heaviness, or a conditioned cue the client learned in self-hypnosis.
3. Avoid sudden touch or shock-style inductions in psychotherapy.
4. Agree any touch beforehand.
Example language (illustrative). "When you're ready, take the breath we practised and let your eyes close on the out-breath, settling to whatever depth is right today."
Watch for. Startle, or a feeling of losing control. Prefer slow inductions with trauma histories.

4.5 Deepening and gauging trance depth

Purpose. Deepen absorption when needed and gauge depth. "Deepening techniques" and "trance depth" are named components. [source: Omega/NATH PDF; Goodreads listing]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Use counting, staircase or descending imagery, or deepen with each breath.
2. Gauge depth from the client's self-rating (for example 0–10 via finger signals) rather than from staged tests.
3. Keep therapeutic work at a moderate depth so the client can still talk.
Example language (illustrative). "In a moment I'll ask you for a number for how absorbed you feel, 0 to 10. Just lift a finger when you have it."
Watch for. Excess depth with no verbal contact, drowsiness, or spontaneous age regression. If any appear, lighten the trance and reorient.

4.6 Direct (suggestive) therapy and post-hypnotic suggestion

Purpose. Ego-strengthening and goal suggestions for stress, phobias, pain, self-image, smoking and habits. NATH lists suggestive therapy for smoking, weight, phobias, stress, pain and self-image, and certification requires three clinical suggestive-therapy sessions. [source: Omega/NATH PDF] Chips and Bolduc's Script Magic is NATH's script reference; its scripts are not reproduced here. [uncertain]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Before trance, co-write two or three suggestions in the client's words: positive, present-tense, believable.
2. Deliver them in trance, repeated with variations.
3. Link them to a cue ("whenever you…").
4. Before re-alerting, remove or limit any temporary suggestions such as heaviness or numbness.
5. For eating or weight goals, suggest attunement to hunger and fullness and self-respect. Give no numeric targets.
Example language (illustrative). "Whenever you notice the urge, that moment itself can remind you to pause, breathe and choose."
Watch for. Suggestions that conflict with the client's values or medical advice. Check the next session that the suggestions felt like the client's own.

4.7 Self-hypnosis training

Purpose. Independence, daily practice and relapse prevention. Taught by both Elias and NATH. [source: B&N listing; Omega/NATH PDF]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Teach a short three-part routine: settle (breath and posture), absorb (count or imagery), then a single intention.
2. Add a clear exit count.
3. Record a personalised audio if the client wants one.
4. Agree when and how often to practise.
5. Review a practice log each session.
Example language (illustrative). "Ten minutes, same chair, same cue. You go in, rest in the quiet, repeat your one phrase, then count yourself back up to five."
Watch for. Using self-hypnosis to avoid problems or dissociate. Increasing hours of practice in isolation.

4.8 Resting in silence, the space between thoughts (Elias)

Purpose. Elias's central transpersonal move: contacting the silent awareness he holds is a source of "Silence, Healing Power, and Insight". He relates it to what people reach through prayer or moments of love or awe. Use it once the client is stabilised, to loosen identification with fear-based thinking. [source: IPG; B&N; Cort blog]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. After induction, invite the client to notice thoughts arising and passing.
2. Then invite them to notice the gaps between thoughts.
3. Then invite them to rest attention in that quiet without forcing it.
4. Let the client name the experience in their own words.
5. Close with grounding: feel the feet, open the eyes, orient to the room.
Example language (illustrative). "Just notice a thought arrive… and leave. And see whether there's a little space before the next one. You don't have to do anything with it."
Watch for. Meditation-type adverse effects: fear, anxiety, panic and sleep disturbance are documented among meditators [source: Lindahl, Britton et al., PLOS ONE 2017, via Brown University news release]; also watch for depersonalisation, derealisation and trauma intrusions [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. If any appear, switch to eyes-open, external, sensory grounding. Elias's metaphysical reading of the experience ("true inner Self", "Grace") is his own theory; let clients keep their own interpretation. [synthesis]

4.9 Accepting-awareness tracking of habitual states (Elias)

Purpose. Notice habitual states, when they arise and what triggers them, with acceptance. Elias names this as the route to transformation. [source: Cort blog]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. In light trance, invite a recent mild example of the problem state.
2. Help the client notice its body signature, its thought "story" and what came just before it.
3. Have them name it with acceptance.
4. Bring them back to resting awareness (4.8).
5. Between sessions, the client logs triggers and states.
Example language (illustrative). "Let the anxious pattern show itself, just a little. Where does it start in the body? What was happening just before? Can you let it be there while you watch?"
Watch for. The state becoming overwhelming. Keep the intensity at 3–4/10 or below and titrate.

4.10 Ideals and the "superconscious" (NATH and Chips, after Cayce)

Purpose. NATH teaches applying Cayce's practice of "setting ideals" and works with Cayce's levels of mind, including the "superconscious". [source: Omega/NATH PDF; Goodreads listing] In clinical terms this is a values-clarification exercise in trance. [synthesis]
Steps [synthesis; Cayce's own ideals procedure is not documented here, so this is uncertain]:
1. Before trance, ask whether the client wants to work with a spiritual, values or meaning frame.
2. In trance, invite the client to sense what matters most to them in the problem area.
3. Have them name one guiding value or ideal and one small action that expresses it.
4. Link it to a post-hypnotic cue.
5. Use the language "wise part" or "deepest values" unless the client chooses "superconscious" or religious terms.
Example language (illustrative). "From the wisest, calmest place in you, what matters most here? Let a word or image come."
Watch for. Grandiosity or messianic content (refer for a psychiatric review), and the client taking the therapist's suggestions as spiritual authority.

4.11 Anchoring (NLP)

Purpose. Link a resource state to a cue so it can be recalled at will. Elias's chapter title frames anchoring as using the mind's own reactivity. [source: B&N listing]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Elicit a resource state (calm, confident) from a real memory or from imagery.
2. As the state peaks, the client sets a distinctive cue they choose, for example pressing thumb and finger together. Self-applied cues are preferred over therapist touch.
3. Break state.
4. Test that the cue brings the state back.
5. Repeat to strengthen it.
6. Rehearse using it in a future trigger situation.
Example language (illustrative). "As that steadiness reaches its fullest, press thumb and finger together… and release. Now just think of lunch for a moment… and press again. What comes back?"
Watch for. A cue linked by accident to a negative state. The resource memory turning painful. Any touch by the therapist without prior consent.

4.12 Visual accessing cues (NLP)

Purpose. An NLP observation tool listed in Elias Phase II. [source: B&N listing]
Steps [synthesis]: notice eye movements and the client's sensory words, then match your language to them ("see", "feel", "hear"). Use this only to guide rapport and wording, never to diagnose or to judge whether the client is telling the truth.
Example language (illustrative). "You said it looks hopeless. What would you need to see to feel a little more hopeful?"
Watch for. Over-reading the cues. Treat them as hypotheses only. [synthesis]

4.13 Submodalities (NLP)

Purpose. Change the felt intensity of an image or state by altering its sensory qualities (size, distance, brightness, sound). Listed in Elias Phase IV. [source: B&N listing]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Have the client bring up a mildly distressing image.
2. Rate distress from 0 to 10.
3. Explore one quality at a time: push it further away, shrink it, drain the colour, turn down the sound.
4. Keep whichever change reduces distress.
5. Re-rate.
6. Future-pace: imagine meeting the trigger with the new representation.
Example language (illustrative). "Let that picture move further away… a bit smaller… what happens to the feeling?"
Watch for. Using this to dodge needed trauma processing. Keep it for mild to moderate material.

4.14 Subpersonality (parts) dialogue

Purpose. Resolve inner conflict by dialogue between parts. Elias Phase III covers parts dialogue, inner guidance, conflict resolution between parts, and combining dialogue with regression. [source: B&N listing] Here it is used without the regression component.
Steps [synthesis]:
1. In light trance, invite the part linked to the problem to show itself as a sensation, image or voice.
2. Ask the part, with respect, what it is trying to do for the client (its positive intention).
3. Invite the opposing part.
4. Help each part hear the other.
5. Negotiate a new behaviour that meets both parts' intentions.
6. Check for objection from any other part ("does any part object?").
7. Rehearse the new behaviour in imagery.
8. The therapist talks to parts through the client's observing self, and does not "speak to" them as separate beings.
Example language (illustrative). "Thank that critical part for showing up. Ask it: what is it afraid would happen if it stopped pushing you?"
Watch for. Signs of dissociative identity disorder or OSDD: amnesia, switching, a part claiming separate control. Stop and assess, or refer to a dissociation specialist. Do not reify parts as entities. [synthesis]

4.15 Inner guidance

Purpose. Access the client's own wisdom as an imagined inner guide or advisor. Listed in Elias Phase III. [source: B&N listing]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. After a safe-place image, invite a wise, kind presence to appear in any form.
2. The client asks one question.
3. The client notices the answer, which may be an image, word or feeling.
4. Evaluate the answer together afterwards, in the waking state.
5. Only act on it if it fits the client's waking judgement and values.
Example language (illustrative). "Let a presence come that is wise and kind toward you. You might ask it your question, and simply notice what comes."
Watch for. A critical or frightening "guide": end the exercise and use grounding. Guidance that directs risky action. Psychotic-spectrum clients (excluded). Never call the guide a real spirit; the client decides how to interpret it. [synthesis]

4.16 Inner-child healing (present-focused)

Purpose. Elias lists inner child healing among the book's approaches. [source: Cort blog] Here it is used as reparenting imagery about current needs, not to retrieve memories.
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Invite an image of a younger self as the client imagines them now. Do not ask for a specific event.
2. The adult self offers what that child needed (safety, comfort, words).
3. The child's feeling is acknowledged.
4. Bring the image into a present safe place.
5. Close with grounding.
Example language (illustrative). "You don't need to remember anything specific. Just imagine the younger you, as you sense them now, and let the adult you offer what they need."
Watch for. Spontaneous trauma memories (see Section 5). Never suggest abuse or ask leading questions.

4.17 "Happy childhood" age regression (NATH certification task)

Purpose. NATH requires one "Happy Childhood Regression" for certification. [source: Omega/NATH PDF] Its procedure is not published in the sources used. [uncertain] Clinically, the safer analogue is resource recall: revisiting a pleasant memory the client already remembers, to anchor a positive state. [synthesis]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Before trance, the client picks a known pleasant memory.
2. In trance, revisit it with sensory detail.
3. Anchor the state (4.11).
4. Return fully to the present age and the room.
5. Do not search for forgotten events.
Watch for. Age regression is where Gruzelier locates the resurfacing of past trauma. If distress appears, stop and ground. [source: Gruzelier] This is resource recall of an already-remembered event, not a search for memories. Never use it to look for causes or forgotten events (see Domain VI guide 110). [synthesis]

4.18 Shame and addictive patterns

Purpose. Listed in Elias Phase IV. [source: B&N listing]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Combine state-tracking (4.9) of the craving or shame cycle with parts dialogue (4.14) toward the protective part.
2. Add a self-compassion or resource anchor (4.11) and self-hypnosis (4.7).
3. Treat this as an adjunct to standard addiction care.
4. Screen for withdrawal risk and coordinate with medical care.
Example language (illustrative). "When the shame comes, what is it trying to protect you from?"
Watch for. Relapse shame driving dropout. Normalise it and keep the relapse plan current.

4.19 Hypnotic anaesthesia and pain relief

Purpose. Pain reduction. Named in Elias Phase IV and in NATH applications. [source: B&N listing; Omega/NATH PDF]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Require medical assessment of the pain first. Hypnosis must not mask undiagnosed conditions.
2. Use imagery of numbness or coolness in a hand ("glove" imagery), then transfer it to the painful area.
3. Alternatively, reframe the sensation (colour, temperature) or shift attention.
4. Teach it as self-hypnosis.
5. Fully remove the numbness suggestion from the hand at the end of the session.
Example language (illustrative). "Let that coolness gather in your hand… and when it's ready, rest the hand where the ache is and let the coolness flow there."
Watch for. New or changed pain, which needs medical review. Leftover numbness at session end.

4.20 Tonglen

Purpose. A Tibetan Buddhist compassion practice listed in Elias Phase IV. [source: B&N listing] The steps below follow the four stages taught by the Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön. [source: Chödrön, "How to Practice Tonglen", Lion's Roar] Attribute it to that tradition. Offer it as optional compassion training for clients who want it. [synthesis]
Steps [source: Chödrön, Lion's Roar; therapy adaptations marked]:
1. Rest in openness: let the mind settle into stillness or spaciousness for a moment or two. [source: Chödrön]
2. Work with texture, breathing naturally: on the in-breath, imagine heaviness, heat and darkness, a closed-in quality; on the out-breath, coolness, brightness and lightness, a sense of freshness, through the whole body, until imagery and breath feel in step. [source: Chödrön]
3. Bring in a real painful situation, traditionally someone the client cares about. If they feel stuck, start with their own pain and include everyone who shares it: for example, breathing in a feeling of inadequacy for themselves and others like them, breathing out confidence and relief. [source: Chödrön]
4. Widen the circle to everyone in the same situation; the traditional practice can extend even to people one sees as enemies. [source: Chödrön] In therapy, start with oneself or a mild case and widen only as far as the client chooses. [synthesis]
5. Keep it brief and calm. [synthesis]
6. Suggest Buddhist teachers for authentic instruction.
Example language (illustrative). "Breathing in, acknowledge the heaviness; breathing out, send a little ease, first to yourself."
Watch for. Clients with trauma or depression becoming flooded by "taking in" suffering. Switch to sending kindness only.

4.21 Time structures and probable futures

Purpose. Listed as "time structures" (Phase IV) and "accessing probable futures" (Phase VI). [source: B&N listing] Their content is not published in the sources used. [uncertain] The clinically safe version is future pacing: rehearsing a desired future in imagery. [synthesis]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Imagine a near-future scene in which the goal behaviour happens.
2. Rehearse it with sensory detail.
3. Identify obstacles and the resource you would use for each.
4. Anchor the scene.
5. Frame it as rehearsal, not prediction.
Example language (illustrative). "Imagine next Tuesday, the meeting you mentioned. Notice yourself using the breath cue… what happens?"
Watch for. The client treating images as predictions or premonitions. Correct this gently.

4.22 Archetypal work, myths and polarities

Purpose. Elias Phase V uses archetypes (including zodiac and male and female archetypes), an "archetypal induction" and work with polarities. [source: B&N listing] Use it to explore identity themes through symbolic figures. Astrological content is the tradition's own framework. [synthesis]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Invite a symbolic figure for a quality the client wants (for example a protector or a sage) or for one side of a polarity.
2. Let the client dialogue with it.
3. Explore the opposite figure.
4. Find what each offers.
5. Integrate this into a concrete commitment.
Example language (illustrative). "If that strength you're missing were a figure from a story, who or what might it be?"
Watch for. Inflation (identifying with the archetype) or frightening imagery. Ground, and process it while awake.

4.23 Shadow work

Purpose. Elias Phase VI. [source: B&N listing] Integrate disowned traits.
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Identify a trait the client strongly rejects in others.
2. In trance, meet it as an image.
3. Ask what it wants and what it protects.
4. Find a healthy form of its energy.
5. Debrief it in the waking state.
Example language (illustrative). "What would this part of you do well if it were allowed a place?"
Watch for. Shame spikes. Go slowly.

4.24 Ericksonian hypnosis with meditation; yogic breath and ultradian hypnosis

Purpose. Listed as Leskowitz chapters (Wolinsky; Osowiec), and Ericksonian methods are listed by Elias. [source: Routledge listing; Cort blog] The chapters' procedures are not described here. [uncertain]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Use permissive, indirect wording and the client's own words.
2. For an ultradian or rest approach, invite the client to follow natural rest cues for a set period.
3. Use gentle breath awareness only. No hyperventilation.
Watch for. Breath-induced dizziness or panic. Epilepsy, cardiac disease or pregnancy contraindicate intensive breathwork. [synthesis]

4.25 Animal imagery, energy-field and intuition work (Leskowitz volume)

Purpose. Chapters list Gallegos's "Personal Totem Pole" animal imagery, energy healing with hypnosis, and clinical intuition and "energy field resonance". [source: Routledge listing] These are the authors' theories. Their procedures are unverified, so no steps are given. [uncertain] If used, treat animal imagery as symbolic imagery (as in 4.22). [synthesis]

4.26 Couples and group hypnosis

Purpose. Elias Phase VI; NATH group hypnosis sessions. [source: B&N listing; Omega/NATH PDF]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Use only general relaxation and ego-strengthening scripts in groups. No individual regression or parts work.
2. Screen each member.
3. Have a co-facilitator who can attend to anyone who becomes distressed.
4. Re-alert everyone fully and check each person afterwards.
Watch for. Members who do not re-alert fully, and contagious distress.

4.27 Re-alerting, debrief and grounding (every session)

Purpose. End the trance safely. Unwanted effects such as headache and anxiety are linked to ending the trance and to secondary states. [source: Gruzelier]
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Remove temporary suggestions.
2. Count up with suggestions of alertness and well-being.
3. Check orientation: name, date, place.
4. Have the client move and drink water.
5. Debrief their experience.
6. Do not let them drive until they feel fully alert.
Example language (illustrative). "Coming back now, three… feeling your weight in the chair… two… eyes opening… one, fully here. What do you notice?"

Excluded procedures (not for use in this guide)

These appear in the sources but are deliberately not given as procedures. For how such practices cause harm and how to help affected clients, see the Domain VI guide 110 harm account (regression and memory-recovery work). A Royal College of Psychiatrists working group concluded that memories which surface after long periods of amnesia have a high probability of being false, especially when "extraordinary means" were used to recover them. [source: Brandon, Boakes, Glaser & Green 1998, Cambridge Core abstract page]

Regression to find a cause (memory recovery), and regression combined with parts dialogue. Listed in Elias Phase III. [source: B&N listing]
Past-life regression. Listed in Elias, in NATH ("past-life exploration") and in Woolger's chapter. [source: B&N; Omega/NATH PDF; Routledge]
Prenatal and perinatal hypnotherapy. Chamberlain's chapter. [source: Routledge]
Entity release or depossession, spirit releasement, and channelling. Elias's "Entity Release: Simple Depossession Script"; the Wicker and Leskowitz chapters. [source: B&N; Routledge] These procedures implant beliefs about possession and can frighten or destabilise clients. [synthesis]

The Elias Phase II "emotional energy" component and the Eastern models (the five skandhas and six realms combined with NLP) are named in the contents but not described in the sources used, so they are not given here. [uncertain]

5. Handling problems

The sources say almost nothing about clinical problems. The only exceptions are Gruzelier's findings on unwanted effects and NATH's fitness and disclosure rule. Everything below is the author's own guidance unless it carries a source tag. [synthesis]

Client "can't go under" or is stuck. Reframe using Elias's no-pass/no-fail stance [source: B&N interview]. Use eyes-open or conversational trance, shorter inductions and the client's preferred senses (4.2). Check for fear of losing control, and agree a stop signal. If there is still no benefit after 3–4 sessions, offer another method. [synthesis]
Resistance or fear of control. Explain that the client can speak, move and end the session at any time. Let them open their eyes at will. Use permissive wording. Treat the resistant part as a protector, using parts dialogue (4.14). [synthesis]
Abreaction or overwhelm during trance. Lower the intensity: "Let it be a little further away." Bring attention outward through the senses, then re-alert slowly and orient the client to the present. Stay until they are settled. Do not deepen in order to "push through". Record what happened. Before the next session, return to stabilisation (Phase C). [synthesis]
Spontaneous trauma memories or age regression. Gruzelier links the resurfacing of trauma memories to age regression [source: Gruzelier]. Ground and re-alert. Tell the client that material from trance may mix real memory, imagination and suggestion, and that it is not evidence either way. Do not explore it in trance. If it remains distressing, use an evidence-based trauma treatment while the client is awake. Domain VI guide 110 covers recovered-memory risks. [synthesis]
Requests for past-life, regression-to-cause or entity work. Explain that you don't offer these and why: false or implanted beliefs, distress, and family and legal consequences. Explore what the client hopes to gain, usually meaning, relief or explanation, and offer a present-focused route to it (4.8, 4.14, 4.15). Clients harmed by such work elsewhere: see Domain VI guide 110. [synthesis]
Clients who believe they are possessed, or who were told so by a practitioner. Assess for psychosis, OCD and trauma. Respect the client's religious framework and, with consent, involve the appropriate faith authority. Do not perform or endorse depossession. [synthesis]
Psychotic or manic symptoms emerging. Gruzelier reports first-episode schizophrenia after hypnotherapy [source: Gruzelier]. Stop hypnosis, assess risk and refer urgently for psychiatric review. Do not resume trance work. [synthesis]
Dissociation (spacing out, losing time, depersonalisation). Stop. Use sensory grounding with eyes open. Screen for a dissociative disorder. Continue only with specialist training, using phase-oriented stabilisation. [synthesis]
Headache, drowsiness or a "foggy" feeling afterwards. These are common, usually short-lived unwanted effects [source: Gruzelier]. Re-alert more fully, add a waking check-in, and warn the client about driving. Warn about these effects at consent. [synthesis]
Spiritual or anomalous experiences that frighten or inflate the client. Normalise them without interpreting them for the client. Help them integrate the experience in their own framework. Watch for grandiosity or sleep loss, which point to a mood or psychotic disorder. Refer for psychiatric review if these signs appear. [synthesis]
Not doing self-hypnosis practice. Shorten the practice to 3–5 minutes and tie it to an existing daily habit. Offer a personal recording. Explore which part objects (4.14). [synthesis]
Idealising the therapist or dependency. Transpersonal framing can invite guru-like projection. Name your role clearly. Build the client's self-hypnosis skills. Refuse to act as a spiritual authority. Plan the ending. [synthesis]
Rupture (feeling manipulated, or that a suggestion was "put in"). Acknowledge it. Review the wording together. Remove or rewrite the suggestion. Agree scripts with the client in advance. [synthesis]
Clients previously seen by lay-certified hypnotherapists. Certificates such as ITL's or NATH's are vocational, with no entry prerequisites, or high-school level [source: CareerBridge; Omega/NATH PDF]. Ask what was done, especially regression, past-life or entity work, and whether "memories" or diagnoses resulted. Assess for iatrogenic beliefs. See Domain VI guide 110. [synthesis]
Scope and ethics. Get informed consent that covers possible unwanted effects (Gruzelier argues these should be disclosed) [source: Gruzelier]. Keep records of the suggestions given. Follow your licensing board's hypnosis standards. Check whether your jurisdiction requires a separate hypnotherapist registration. Washington requires one for unlicensed fee-charging practice but exempts licensed professionals working within scope; the UK has no statutory regulation (see Section 1, Status). [source: Laws of 2008, ch. 135; PSA] Check local law before working with anyone involved in legal proceedings. [synthesis] [uncertain]

Sources

Pages consulted:

Books and papers cited:

Elias, J. (2005). Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP (2nd ed.). Five Wisdoms Press.
Chips, A. (2nd ed.; first published 2004). Clinical Hypnotherapy: A Transpersonal Approach. [uncertain: publisher and date of the 2nd edition]
Chips, A., & Bolduc, H. (2008). Script Magic: A Hypnotherapist's Desk Reference.
Leskowitz, E. (Ed.) (1999). Transpersonal Hypnosis: Gateway to Body, Mind, and Spirit. CRC Press. [uncertain: the listing also names John Tatum as editor]
Gruzelier, J. Unwanted effects of hypnosis: a review of the evidence and its implications. Contemporary Hypnosis, 17(4), 163–193. [uncertain: the repository gives 2006; volume 17 corresponds to 2000]
Brandon, S., Boakes, J., Glaser, D., & Green, R. (1998). Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse: implications for clinical practice. British Journal of Psychiatry. [uncertain: volume and pages not shown on the page]

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