In Which Ben Greenfield Is Hypnotized Live On A Podcast.

Foreign.

Welcome to a very special episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness show for multiple reasons. First of all, I am. I'm sitting on the floor. I'm breaking my own rules. I'm actually lounged out on the floor of my home office on a yoga mat with a nice little pillow behind me. Because in today's podcast we are talking about hypnosis. And I have been. I've been threatened with actually being hypnotized on today's show. And so I am on the floor. Not only that, but today's episode is a video episode because myself and my guest hypnotist, Mark, we are actually doing a video recording of this entire episode because it threatens to be either a really crappy video that is incredibly boring and involves me laying on the floor while Mark talks or something quite interesting.

For you to view.

Either way, the video is going to be over at BenGreenfieldFitness.com hypnotize Good luck spelling that. BenGreenfieldFitness.com Hypnotize if you. If you want to access the video now, a warning, a strict warning. I.

Might get hypnotized in this podcast and it may make you sleepy when you listen. So please don't do things like drive in your car or operate heavy machinery or ride a bicycle during this episode. Just stop. If that's what you're doing right now, go listen to Nine Inch Nails, come back, put this on when you're in a more relaxing place because you may wind up in your local newspaper in a way that you don't particularly like. If you, if you do anything that might involve you getting into an accident while sleepy, while listening to this podcast episode. Who is my guest? My guest is Mark, and I remember I was sitting across from Mark Dharma. Is that how you actually pronounce your last name? Mark Dharma?

Yes. Yes, exactly. Thank you.

D h a M M a. Sounds like some kind of, like a, an Ayurvedic Indian legend or something, aside from the mark that comes before it. Mark Dahmer. I was sitting with Mark at the Soho House in West Hollywood a couple of months ago at and we were actually chatting about hypnosis and behavior change and things like this. And I said, well, Mark, could you hypnotize me? And he nodded quite confidently and I asked him if he could do it on a podcast and he nodded again. And so what you are about to hear came to life. And what Mark does is he's a high performance, health and mindset coach, so he works with people all over the world both online and offline, and has about 17 years of experience in the health industry doing things like this. He has a master's degree in positive psychology. He studied under this guy named the flow professor named Dr. Mihaly. How do you pronounce this fellow's last name? Mark Csikszentmihalyi Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He studied under this guy, and I feel quite proud of myself having pronounced that name with just one coaching session with Mark. And Mark has studied under also Sir John Whitmore, who's considered the founder of modern day, I guess, like life coaching, or would it be like positive psychology coaching, Mark.

Executive coaching.

Executive coaching. Okay. And Mark uses things like NLP and hypnosis to reprogram people to be successful. And so I think this would be. I figured this would be quite fascinating for you guys to kind of see how things like hypnosis and NLP can actually work to improve one's life. So that being said, it's also going to be a little bit of a unique podcast episode because as I was telling you before we started, Mark, usually I'm in charge, firing away questions, and you're in the hot seat. And now it's a little bit flipped in reverse where you are, to a certain extent, in charge, taking over the show in terms of you being the person who asks more of the questions, because I frankly don't know much about how hypnosis sections are supposed to go. So let's go ahead and just dive right in. What do we do first in a typical session like this?

Okay, well, I think first what I'll do is introduce a little bit of hypnosis, what it is and how it works on a basic level. Okay. So first of all, there's a simplistic way of looking at our mind. And you can think we've got our conscious mind. And that's you and me talking right now, Ben, and you rationally thinking about what I'm seeing, what you're seeing, you being very conscious about that. And then you can think of the unconscious mind. And the unconscious mind would be what's aware of.

Might be aware that there's a light behind you or there's a sound outside that you perhaps wasn't consciously aware of just now. So your unconscious mind was actually a good analogy. The Elephant and the Rider.

There's a book, the Happiness Hypothesis, and that's actually written by a doctor of positive psychology, Dr. Jonathan Haidt, and he describes the conscious mind and the unconscious mind a bit like an Elephant and a rider. So the rider is on top of the elephant, and the rider is like the conscious mind. The rider thinks that it's in charge, and it can look around, see where he wants to go, and it thinks it's in charge, and then he's on top of a big, huge elephant. Elephant is extremely powerful. Strong, big, but relatively dumb compared to the rider.

Mm.

Now things work.

I don't know.

Man.

Elephants are smart, at least I've heard. Or they have a good memory.

One of the got a good memory. I've heard.

Okay, go ahead. We digress.

Things work really well. If the rider, the conscious mind, picks a direction, and then the unconscious. The elephant wants to go in that direction, things work great. They get where they want. Problems start when the rider wants to go a certain way, and the elephant is like, no, I don't want to go that way. Because really, there's nothing the rider can do. The elephant's stronger, it's bigger, can't move it in that direction. And you can think of that as when consciously, you may want to make a change in your life. For example, consciously, you may want to start eating a healthier diet, or you may want to start working out more. But for some reason, you really have a lot of resistance to it, and you find yourself being pulled back to your old habits. That's like the rider wanting to go a certain way and elephant just thinking, nah, I don't. I don't want to. Mm. I'm not good in that.

Right. Could. Could you also apply this to even more specific, let's say like an athletic performance issue. Let's say consciously, you know that you should be running at 90 rpm for a cadence. Because every research study done on successful, efficient, economical runners has shown they run at 90. But subconsciously, every time you go out on a run, you. You revert to, like a. Like a natural, let's say, 80 cadence. Like, could you use things like this to actually train physical patterns as well?

I believe you could. Yeah, I believe you could. If it's. If it's like, okay, I know 90 want to run at 90. But then maybe halfway into the run, the mind gets a little bit lazy, and you're like, oh, I'm just going to do what I like to do, which is 80. Yeah, I believe it could. Because that's like your rider scene. I want to run at 90. And then the elephant being like, no, I'll just do it at 80. That's what I like to do. So, yeah, I believe it could. Yeah, okay, so what hypnosis does and a lot of work in NLP is we're talking to the elephant directly. We're persuading the elephant directly so that you can get the elephant and rider working in line going the same direction.

Right.

Okay, that's what we're doing.

All right, that makes sense. So how do we train the elephant? What actually comes first?

Well, we're going to do it right now and I'll explain how it works. There's lots of different ways with hypnosis. We're primarily using language to do it.

And how about we just go into it and then at the end I'll explain some of the tricks?

Sure. Sounds good. And by the way, for those of you listening to or watching the video, Mark is an. Is an ex fitness model and quite the beast himself. So this is probably the most intimidating guy I will ever get hypnotized by. He's actually, he's. Like I mentioned, he's worked quite a bit in fitness and I know that he practices what he preaches from a health standpoint as well. So if you don't get a chance to check out the video, or if you want a chance to check out the video, go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com hypnotize and we'll have some more of Mark over there. But Mark, what do you want me to do here?

All right, I also want to add that I'm also a long term fan of the show. Been listening to it about four or five years now, and it's the one podcast that I do actually make sure I listen to.

Cool.

So, yeah, this is cool for me too.

I'm flattered.

All right, so first of all, Ben, here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to take your. Just sit down really comfortable.

Okay.

I'm comfortable. I'm laying back on my little.

My mat here, my comfy foam standing mat that I typically stand on, and I'm now forming into a pillow. So I'm pretty dang comfortable right now. And I would have to say far more comfortable than my typical standing treadmill walking position. I typically podcast from Cool.

And just before we get started, would you like to.

Reiterate to me and to the audience a couple of things that you want to get out of this session? You sent me a voice note and some of the things you want to get out.

Yesterday you asked me, you know, what, what, what behavior changes do you, Ben, want to change about yourself or what.

Kind of things come to mind?

That you would want to change about yourself.

And I mentioned a few things, you know, and honestly, this might be a.

Little bit difficult for me to share with the folks listening in, but if I could tell you three things that I think would benefit possibly from me.

Changing in my life, number one would.

Be I am a severe creature of habit. I think I get this from my mom, who I don't think has changed her haircut in like 20 years just.

Because she doesn't want to change her look.

I'm a little bit similar not only with my look, but with life in general, right? I have habits, I have structures, I have routines that I've set up that allow me to be incredibly productive, but that also can tend to make me frustrated or even unpleasant to be around when life throws me curve balls. What I mean by that is, you know, if people want to stop by for the day or there's some random person coming through town that wants to have lunch or, or my kids notice that the day is really hot and so they're begging dad to go to the water park. You know, if I look at my wife, she, you know, she'll just roll with the punches, smile on her face, and she's off, kind of like bouncing back and forth between whatever activities life series of moving targets happens to throw at her that day. Whereas I get in a funk if I don't, if I'm not able to, you know, do my exact routine that I'm used to each day. And sometimes I feel as though that has just as many cons as it does pros. So one thing is I'm a severe creature of habit. The second thing would be another. Another thing that I perhaps would paint as something that, that bothers me or bugs me sometimes about myself is that I expect perfection of myself. You know, I live in the health and fitness sector as a quote guru, unquote. And so sometimes I feel as though when I wake up in the morning, I have severe pressure to do everything from, you know, whatever, maintain a six pack abs, to not miss a meditation or a journaling session, to make sure that when I am in public I'm wearing, you know, the correct clothing with the correct shave, and that I'm just always engaged in a forward facing picture of perfection to my audience, my followers, my readers, my listeners, etc. Because I'm supposed to be that guy, right, who's always healthy or who always is in shape. And sometimes I feel very pressured and even stressed by that. And I would say that the last thing is the third Thing for me that's difficult for me is.

I am not that great at making friends or maintaining a relationship with someone with friends. I'm very good with one to many, right? Like having lots of, of unclose friends or you know, followers, fans, acquaintances, etc.

Stuff like that.

But in terms of me really having especially like close, well, like male friends, right, like people who I would consider to be close, brothers, etc. Sometimes I have difficulty developing and maintaining relationships like that. Like I never really was good at. And I can't say looking back at like my father, for example, that he either was very good at making friends, right? Like lots of acquaintances, relatively popular people at my house, growing up all the time, but not really a lot of close friends, you know, in terms of watching my dad and for me personally, you know, I don't have a lot of close friends in my life who I just say, you know, hang out with.

And sometimes I feel as though part.

Of that for me is, is a lack of the ability to really open up and make friends. So those would be three things that I would say is expecting perfection of myself, not doing a very good job making friends or maintaining friendships and then finally being a severe creature of habit.

All right, great. Awesome. Okay, so confirm what you'd like is to deal with change more, ease, more go with the flow. How would you describe it?

Yes, being able to go with the flow, being able to have the resiliency, to be able to adapt to change, to be able to adapt to the curveballs that life can throw at one without getting stressed out, without feeling as though I'm missing out on that ability to say, maintain perfection or to maintain positive habits. It's like finding that ideal balance between habit and, and structure and then also the ability to just respond to life in a little bit more of like a free flowing, type B manner, if that makes sense.

Okay. And how would you like to feel about this perfectionism? Would you. What would be an ideal situation?

I would like to be able to give myself permission to admit my own failures, my own mistakes, my own struggles and everything from health to relationships to fatherhood to happiness.

I certainly have so many days where I wake up and I don't feel great. And I sometimes, even though I'm in extremely good physical health.

Where I want to say, hey, you know what? Today.

You know, I've got the sniffles and my stomach hurts a little bit and I didn't get my workout in, et cetera, but I can't tell people that because I'm supposed To be the perfect Ben Greenfield, right, Who's got the health and fitness podcast, who's got everything figured out, right? And I would love to be able to feel more comfortable just being who I am rather than trying to put a forward facing, you know, picture of perfection to the world. That makes sense.

Okay, got it. Thank you.

And then the final one, the friendships, like, what would be ideal for you?

That one's tricky.

I haven't had close friends in my life since I was a kid growing up, playing ball with my friends in the yard and having friends over to play video games, et cetera. It's been for a very, very long time. I can't even really tell you how long that I've been, you know, probably since college. You know, since I graduated college and started a family, etcetera, I've been a bit of a lone wolf. And. And again, I, you know, and people out there listening and, you know, who you are.

There's a lot of guys out there.

That I spend time with, that I have a great time with when we get together, etc. But, you know, these are more things like masterminds, you know, people I see every quarter and hang out with, not people who I necessarily have strong, lasting relationships with in my local community. I just have. I seem to have difficulty making friends, reaching out to friends, maintaining relationships, things along those lines. And so in terms of how that.

Would look, I would say just being.

Able to be more open, be more friendly, and maybe these three things all kind of go hand in hand, right? Like being resistant to change, wanting perfection, and maybe expecting perfection of others. Or at least not doing a good job making friends with others because they're not, you know, that perfect person I want to be friends with.

Alrighty. Awesome. Thanks, Ben.

Yeah.

All right, so we're gonna start right now. What I'd like you to do is, like, you take your right hand and put it underneath your left armpit.

And then you can take your left hand.

And put it underneath your right armpit.

That's right.

And as you do that.

And relax.

And you're staring at the ceiling.

Noticing the things.

You'Ve never noticed before.

As.

You feel.

Back of your neck.

Against.

The roller.

And you're breathing in.

And out.

In.

And down.

You just notice.

How heavy your eyes are feeling right now.

That's right.

Noticing the sounds.

Outside.

Noticing your breathing.

Relax.

Now close.

Your eyes.

And just listen.

To me.

As you breathe out.

And in.

Because, Ben.

I want to talk to you.

About a race.

But I'm not really.

Talking to you about a race?

Because that would be a silly thing to talk to you about. As you relax.

Laying down.

Drifting away.

Right now.

At the start.

Of the.

Race.

You'Re ready.

You'Re excited.

You know, Ben, that calm excitement.

That you always feel.

And the things you always.

See.

And hear.

When you're there.

You know.

It so well now.

That's right.

Three.

Two.

One.

Go. Now.

Even deeper.

Even more relaxed.

Just let it go.

When you start.

In the race.

So happy.

Confident.

Enjoyable.

Sea water.

Sea bikes.

Air, crashes, splashes, washes, watches.

All around.

The people you know.

The people you don't.

At your best.

You have a plan.

But sometimes, Ben.

It doesn't go to plan, does it?

So what do you do?

Do you splash them more?

Run even harder.

Cross the line.

Line them up?

What's the best way then?

To relax.

To smile.

To know.

A thing or two.

About optimal performance.

You do.

Know how to best adapt to curveballs.

Swiss ball.

Stability ball.

Tennis ball.

Running around.

Lunge for that shot.

Hit it back hard.

Have a strategy.

Be flexible with it.

Yoga in the morning.

Stretching in the evening.

Nice and flexible. You are bent. Always relaxing. Because you know, what's the best way to stretch?

What's the best way to do yoga?

You know, Ben, when it gets really tight out there.

Really stiff.

What should you do?

Breathe in.

Relaxing out.

Now.

Because life isn't supposed to go to plan.

At least not your plan, is it, Ben?

There's another plan for you.

And you know that too.

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

There's a grander plan for everything.

And sometimes.

Maybe all the time.

In the world.

Is dedicated to the bigger plan.

So when things pop up, curveballs.

It'S.

Time for you to flow.

And be calm.

Because there's a bigger game.

Tennis games.

Running around.

Sprinting here.

Backpedaling there.

Focus on the strategy.

Remember the plan.

Staying supple.

Leopard.

Running through the savannah.

Relaxed.

Focused.

At one thing at a time.

The playful.

Part.

Of you.

And animals is always there.

What is that playful part?

How did it become there?

Did it go away?

Or did it grow up strong.

Hidden, camouflaged like a leopard? And it spots.

You can bring it out whenever you want, Ben.

So when would be a good time now to bring it out?

Whenever you like.

Scanning the savannah.

Walking with poise.

No pressure to be perfect.

Being what you naturally are.

The leopard hunts.

The leopard play.

Has friends.

Family.

Cubs.

Your cubs.

Scout.

All of the adventures.

As a leader.

It's a choice.

And a privilege.

To be a leader.

Spider man.

Says.

Or was it Uncle Ben?

The great Power.

Comes great responsibility.

To the leopard.

It doesn't feel that.

Instead, it's focused.

Playful.

Adaptable.

In the race.

You have to be right.

Ben.

What happens if you swims a little slower?

All the bike's not as smooth.

Or you feel it a little quicker.

Maybe started too fast.

Slow.

Down.

Self mastery is the way to win.

As you know.

As you teach.

Deeper and deeper.

So comfortable you are.

As I count down from three to one, you'll open your eyes at one.

Three.

Two, one. Open your eyes, Ben.

Ben, open your eyes.

Quickly. What was.

Just tell.

Tell us what was happening there.

Well, you have a very relaxing voice, first of all.

Yeah, it was kind of like being.

On the edge of awake and sleep wellness or like a half awake, half asleep state. Can I sit up here and get a little closer to the microphone?

Yeah, you can set up. You're going to be going right back down in a moment.

Okay.

Yeah, a little bit of like a half awake, half asleep state.

Yeah, definitely was able to visualize and feel a lot of the emotions and the imagery that you were painting.

I don't know if I was.

If I was hypnotized.

You was hypnotized.

It felt as though I was. I felt as though I was. Again, like the best way I can describe it is, you know when you wake up in the morning and you're.

Kind of like half there, half out of it.

So. Yeah, that's. That's how I felt.

And.

Yeah.

Okay.

Is that what you're looking for?

Yep, that's perfect. Lie back down.

Okay. You know.

Yes, sir, that's right. And then as I count down from three to one, you're gonna go right back.

Twice as deep.

You understand?

Three.

Two.

One. Twice.

As deep.

In and out.

In.

And out.

You go.

From the water.

Bobbing around.

Breathing deeply.

Focusing calmly.

On your breath.

On the tennis court.

Playing double.

Up and down. Your ball. My ball. Two balls, three balls, four balls, five balls. All at once.

Juggling.

Simply.

Easier to focus.

One at a time.

Relax.

No pressure.

You were made a certain way.

You know, Ben, when people talk about self mastery and resilience.

And reading the Bible.

In the morning.

What if.

You are.

Everything you were supposed to be?

Perfect in the eyes of who?

Of the audience.

Of people.

Of others.

What does it matter?

There's only.

Perfection.

In one thing.

And one thing only.

And that knows.

That you're good enough.

Because you are all.

How you're meant to be.

Fly in your bottom.

Pollinating the other plants.

All working together.

In harmony in nature.

Bumblebees buzz.

Honeybees dance.

The dance of life.

Of nature in all of its perfection.

So relaxed.

So free.

So happy and joyous to be alive.

Today.

Forever and ever.

Because.

That was the design.

That was the plan, and is to flow.

Within.

The grace.

As you run.

Across.

The savannah to your family.

And cubs.

Knowing you're good enough.

And all that matters is for you.

To be you.

Because.

You being you for you.

Is really you.

Being you.

For all.

The.

Way.

You was design.

To be.

Now on the bike.

As fast as you can.

The lone wolf goes.

On.

His own.

Can be lonely at times.

Or whatever.

All the range. It's also fun.

But the lone wolf.

Lost its pack.

Which can never be as strong.

Without its pack.

Because when you go hunting, Ben.

How.

Do you be the most efficient, effective.

At your best.

With your pack.

Your.

Teammates.

Your friend.

Your brothers.

Ancestors.

Families all over the world. You know.

Friends.

Acquaintances.

Fans.

All these people.

In your tribe.

Your pack.

As a leader.

Inspirational.

Authentic.

And honest.

Always.

Now.

Forever and ever.

Go back to when you was a little kid.

That's right. You remember the days.

Your best friend.

Their friend.

All playing that game.

That game of life.

You practiced, you played.

You had good friends.

Real friends.

All that practice as a kid.

The.

Sports practice.

The computer game practice.

The.

Riding practice.

And that other practice then.

It prepared you for today.

And for tomorrow.

Because you already have the skills.

You've already done it before.

You know how to be a best friend.

And to make them like bread.

Timing.

Nurturing.

As it rises.

Out of the garden.

In the garden you plan to see.

You water it.

You nurture it. In time.

The sun, so bright.

So healing.

So light.

And loving.

And nurturing. It grows.

Taller and taller.

Younger and stronger.

Friendships become.

With focused sunlight.

With patience.

And care.

Fruit trees bloom.

And give.

So much air.

Fruit.

Taste.

Like success.

When investing.

You pick.

Your stock.

You choose.

The one.

That you.

Want to support.

Give it time.

Energy.

Money.

And care.

Because.

It'S just like investing then.

And.

Growing.

Gardening.

Loving.

Relationships. You've got all the practice already.

You are good at making friends, aren't you, Ben?

You've done it before.

You'Ll do it again.

Because of all the practice you've already had.

And all the lessons.

In your life.

Have brought you to this understanding.

Of fitness, of health.

Of energy.

Of life.

The energy.

Made you.

The way you're supposed to be.

Self mastery.

Flow.

Open.

And caring.

What else could perfection.

Really.

Be?

Cause.

Perfection.

Is planned by the Great One.

And understood only.

By him or she.

Or both.

You see.

The water as it flows, so Random.

So unpredictable life is.

Which is why you swim like a salmon against the stream.

Relax.

Poise.

Confident.

Natural.

Friendship.

Builds.

One.

Step.

At a time.

Just light training.

No pressure.

Relax.

Congratulations, Ben.

Because you finish the race.

For now.

You'Ll be.

Relaxed and flowing.

Open.

Investing.

Perfectly perfect.

Now and forever.

You will understand.

And smile.

Because now you know the truth.

When I count down from five to one.

Four.

Three.

Open your eyes. Only when you've taken all the lessons you needed to take, you chose to take.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Whenever you've taken those lessons, then open your eyes and stop.

All right, I'm back.

So, Ben.

What'S different for you?

What is different for me? I feel very, very relaxed right now. It's not often at 10am in the morning, I lay down for an hour.

I would say that I have a feeling of peace.

Some clarity, some images dancing around my head of playful leopards and.

Wolf packs.

And.

You know, and also a sense to be a little.

Bit more open, more.

I suppose the word of the day would be vulnerable.

And I feel, you know, I feel at peace, but also knowing, you know, right now that we are. We are Alive, you know, 90,000 plus people listening into this podcast. Yeah, vulnerable, you know, that's the way I feel, but at the same time, a little bit excited to see how this mentality that you kind of established with those sessions kind of carries forward into the rest of my day today just to see if it changes my interactions, my thoughts, my activities, etc. And I also was also a little bit, I guess, intrigued by what I consider to be your word smithing, your wordplay.

Right.

I guess a question I have for you.

Is this some, like, were you ever.

Like, a freestyle rapper or a musician or someone like.

Or is this just something that you do? You rhyme things and you string together words and images as something that you've learned to do or naturally do.

So.

I model my hypnosis a lot on this guy called Milton Erickson.

And.

I guess he was really the originator of this type of wordsmithing. What I'm doing then what I'm actually doing is I'm distracting your conscious mind. I'm distracting the rider.

And then dropping in hints to the elephant.

Right, Right. I could see during. During a few different times of the. Of the session or whatever you call it, where you were doing that, where I would. It was really weird. You know, you'd be throwing around these things that actually impressed me in terms of how much, you know, about my life, you know, to tennis and tennis and triathlon and the Cubs and the Bible, all these little things. And I would find myself on this little roller coaster ride of kind of dipping in and out of, I suppose, both conscious thought and conscious awareness of some of the familiar activities that you were describing. And then kind of like a subconscious application of those two behavior patterns, I suppose. And I don't know if that's what you're going after, if I'm just completely messed up and a freak in my head, but that's kind of what I noticed.

Yeah, that's pretty much spot on. Yeah, I'm just going with it. And see, the thing is, you already went into the session knowing what you wanted out of it.

Yeah.

So all I had to do was give you space to integrate that for yourself.

Right, right.

Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Is it common to do this via the method that we are doing it right now, via Skype? Do you get enhancement from being, say, like there with someone? Do you get enhancement from being that stereotypical image of someone on a couch with the psychologist or the psychiatrist sitting across from them, arms folded, speaking to them? Or is this something that folks can benefit from even if it's electronic like.

This, even if it's digital and definitely can benefit electronically?

There is some added benefit of being in person. And the added benefit is one, maybe we can feel my energy more. Because what I actually do is I get into the state that I want you to go into first. So I get myself, if people have been watching this will see I look like I'm asleep half the time, I look like I'm asleep. I'm like completely in a state of complete relax. I put myself.

I have to go back and watch the video now because I was. I wasn't actually watching you. Yeah, so. So you go into this translation, I go into transcendence.

And then. That's right. And then the other things, it helps. It helps if I can see, feel and hear what you're seeing, feeling and hearing. Because I can always go back to like, oh, you know, notice the sound of the car that just passed by. It helps me.

Basically.

Get your conscious mind focusing on things that's going on around you again, distracting it. So I can focus on you. But to be honest, because I can see you and because I can. I mentioned you're breathing a lot in and out. You may have noticed. And my.

My observations are saying in and out were directly in sync with your breathing. Because I could see your stomach.

Right.

And when I'm doing that, your brain unconsciously or Consciously, your brain is like, oh, yeah, I am breathing in and out. And I'm like, as you can hear the sounds outside. Oh, I can hear sounds. As you can feel your back against the floor. Oh, yeah, I'm feeling back. You may also begin to feel that you're feeling even more relaxed.

I'm basically confirming back to you what you're already experiencing. And then I'm making a suggestion that you're feeling even more relaxed. And because your brain is like, yes, I am experiencing this. Yes, this is happening. Yes, this is happening. Oh, this must be happening too.

Right, Right.

That helps. But it's easy enough to do over Skype.

That makes sense. How did you. I'm curious how one actually learns to become a hypnotist to do what you do. I mean, when do you know that you've more or less made it as a hypnotist? What are you looking for? How do you learn? You know, you talk about these, and I mentioned them in your bio, how you studied under these people who are pioneers of positive psychology and people who are well versed in hypnotism. What was that process like? And when did you know that you were a hypnotist?

Well, I actually got certified by the American Board of Hypnotists.

A few months back because I took a NLP practitioner certification with a lady named Pam Castillo in Los Angeles. Pam Castillo. She's one of the best, in my opinion, in America.

Pam Castillo.

Yeah. Pam Castillo.

How are you?

How do you spelling Castillo? Because I'll take some notes for people.

C A, S, T, I, L, L, O.

Okay, exactly. Yeah. She's based in Los Angeles and she's a master practitioner of nlp and she's a trainer. She trains people in nlp. She trains people in hypnosis. So she taught me, and then she encouraged me just to go out and keep practicing, keep learning. I've got, there's books on it. Reading this book right now. Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton Erickson.

Hmm. I'll link to this one in the show. Notes. Patterns. Patterns of the hypnotic techniques.

That's right.

So, so how long a period of time did you, did you study these techniques?

Honestly, I, I, I started studying hypnosis only maybe.

Two, three months back.

From now.

Yeah, from now. The difference, I would say the difference is.

I'm like yourself. I'm interested in optimal performance, if physical and mental. Master's degree in positive psychology. This is my life. So I hypnotize people pretty much every day.

Wow.

So I've been Doing it every day. Friends, family, myself, clients, whoever. I do this pretty much every day.

Wow, interesting. And up until that point, most of what you were doing was.

In addition to studying for your master's degree in positive psychology, fitness modeling.

So I started fitness, I'm 31, so I started fitness modeling 10 years ago back in London. Was a men's fitness model.

And I was also a personal trainer. Personal trainer for years. And then about six years ago I started coaching executives around the health and fitness and I realized that man, I need to be up on the psychology because I can tell these guys what to do, but if they don't go ahead and do it, then they're not going to get results. So I started getting into, I took an executive coaching course because that's who I was dealing with. I was dealing with executives and entrepreneurs and that really got me into the psychological aspects of things and behavior change. That got me hooked for myself and for my clients. While I was in London.

I was.

Doing really well for myself. I was like, well, I've got a bachelor's degree in sports science and physiology. My whole background was in optimal fitness. I was like, but to be honest, the psychological aspect has done more for me and done more for my clients than anything fitness wise. It's helping them be happier, more confident, higher levels of well being, motivated, focus and just enjoy their life way more. And they're sticking to the health and fitness plans better too. So then I was like, let me really dive into the psychological aspects, the psychology of optimal performance. And I moved to the US four years ago to get my master's degree in that. And yeah, then I got into my nlp, Neuro linguistic programming, which is talking to the unconscious mind. That's what Tony Robbins started off with. That's the technology he used. And that way I got into hypnosis. So I've got the academic background and all the research driven stuff and then I've also got the, the stuff that isn't so much research driven, the NLP for example, but certainly gets results. I've seen it in my own life and countless of other people's. I think the reason why I am so effective with it is because of how much I believe in it. And I believe in it so much because I've had massive shifts in my own life through hypnosis and through neuro linguistic programming.

Right, right. And we've, we've had some NLP podcasts before. Uh, one in particular in which for racing I went through a session in which we formed an anchor you know, that, that I could rely upon to pull the trigger, so to speak, to go faster in a race or to reduce fatigue. And the thing freaking actually works. It's, it's really interesting. It was actually, I made a little bit of a mistake because a great deal of my racing at that point involved swimming and the anchor involved placing one's index finger around one's thumb, thumb, which kind of got in the way of a good swim stroke. But it actually worked very, very well for things like running or bicycling. So I will link to that NLP episode that we also did. If you want to kind of like delve more deeply into NLP and you're listening in and this stuff fascinates you, go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com Hypnotize and I'll link to that episode along with some of these other resources that Mark has been talking about. I Mark, I know we've been on for a little while, but I also wanted to ask you because this is the inevitable question that I get from folks is how can they do their own session? How can they connect with you?

Is there any offer that they can use, mention my name, that type of thing so that they get the white glove treatment from you and anything along those lines that you want to fill people in on.

Yeah, well, we're going to put a link on your site, Ben Hypnosis.

So between now and the time that this podcast is actually released, we'll work out a link and a discount code for folks that they can access.

Absolutely. Because I'm a long term listener and I enjoy the discount codes and I use Ben 10.

Just yesterday, people all over the globe purchasing smart drug infused coffees and blue light blocking glasses and coffee enema kits using, using the Ben Greenfield code. So it's always appreciated. Okay, cool. So we'll put a link in the show notes@BenGreenfieldFitness.com Hypnotize. You must know how to spell hypnotize. That is the test to be able to Access that discount. BenGreenfieldFitness.com Hypnotize and hopefully none of you drove off the road. And Mark, go ahead is what we'll.

Do for any of your listeners. We'll do a real good discount code for them and I'll do a personal hypnosis session for them just like you did and we'll record it so they'll have their own recording so they can listen to it and be hypnotized again as many times as they like forever. And ever and ever.

I just realized the added benefit of this being a podcast is I actually have access to my own hypnosis recording session now. Amazing. I love it. And as a reminder to myself and also to those of you listening in, hold me accountable. Because during this session, we talked about me being more. More vulnerable, more playful, more resilient to changes and curveballs that life throws my way, and also better at making friends. And so I'm looking forward to going into today and the rest of the week with this mindset that Mark has established. And, Mark, I want to thank you for coming on the show today and sharing this stuff with us. I find it fascinating. I know that some folks raise an eyebrow and will throw around the oft used term woo woo, or just woo if they're lazy. But either way, I readily embrace things like this in terms of really a method of delving into how to get the most out of the brain and the body. And I think this is just one more technique that folks can use. So thank you, Mark.

Okay, and one last thing, Ben.

Yeah.

The truth is, you already became more vulnerable right at the start of this podcast, before we even went into the hypnosis session. You already made a shift by openly admitting what you wanted to shift.

Yeah.

You already made the change.

Yeah, yeah. It's such a good point. I see what you did there. Nice little trick.

All right, well, I know we've been going for a while, and I actually have another.

Another call.

I need to hop on here pretty soon. So, Mark, thank you for coming on. Folks, listening in. All the show notes, everything along with the offer that Mark's gonna give you, will be at BenGreenful for fitness. Com Hypnotize. And until next time, I'm Ben Greenfield along with Mark Dama signing out from BenGreenfieldFitness.

Com.

Have a healthy week.