NOTE: This transcript has not yet been proofed read and may contain typos. It will be updated as soon as proof reading is complete.
Cal: Hello everybody, Cal Banyan here. Cal Banyan's "Hypnosis, et cetera." If you're watching this anywhere except CalBanyan.com, go to CalBanyan.com right now because there we have additional text, and information and links that just make all of this information even more informative, more enjoyable, more useful. Before we get started, Brenda, what's this going to be about?
Brenda: Today, we are here to talk about the fact that you do not have to be the lone hypnotist. You can join Our Hypno Space and go there where you can meet up with, and engage with, friendly other hypnotists. Learn things, just engage socially, have a great place to communicate with other hypnotists out there throughout the country, and throughout the world. How about that, Cal?
Cal: Awesome. Hey, you know what? Let me tell you about Brenda. Brenda is the consummate professional. She has come such a long way - over the years that I've known her - as a hypnotherapist. She has lots of enthusiasm for the profession. She cares so much, so deeply for her clients, she also cares for other hypnotists. That's why she's doing our show, to help lift the profession. She has a master's degree and a bachelor's degree, a bachelor's degree in Sociology, a master's degree in Criminology. She's also presented at the National Guild of Hypnotists convention, and most importantly she helps me out by supervising our students when we do our certification courses. So, how are you doing Brenda?
Brenda: I'm doing great, Cal. Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm excited to be here, back on the podcast. Here with Cal, Cal the hypnosis celebrity. He has the fame profession because of all the videos we have out here on the Internet. Over 400 free videos here, training videos to help all of you out there to learn to be the best in the profession. And Cal has received almost every award in the profession. His books have made him an authority on hypnosis that works. And I've got to tell you, I love coming here and working at the Banyan Hypnosis Center, obviously where I can help people in amazing ways through 5-PATH Hypnotherapy or 7th Path Self-Hypnosis. And I'm thrilled to be here today to talk about how we can all engage with each other, learn from one another and with one another through the social media site, Our Hypno Space. So, Cal, why don't you tell us a little bit about Our Hypno Space?
Cal: I haven't talked about Our Hypno Space in a long time. What we're doing right now is we're going through . . . first of all, let me tell you: Our Hypno Space was the very first social site just for hypnotists. Totally professional, only for hypnotists. And let me tell you, it's got about 500 members right now. There is Facebook and Yahoo! and all of these other places that have a gazillion members, but our little community, I think, is one of the highest quality communities. And the whole idea is to have a truly safe and professional place where everyone can not be the "lone hypnotist." So many of you folks out there, you don't know anyone that really does what you do. They're not trying to build or grow a hypnosis practice. They're not trying to build their skills and confidence and competence. But it's a place where you can go where everyone knows your name. By that I mean that there's social networks out there where you might be talking to someone called "I Love Pink Poodles," and that's to me just not very professional to talk to a screen name that is so anonymous.
On our site, everybody uses their real name, and so there's accountability, and there's more respect, and just a greater level of professionalism. So I want to really invite you. We're in the process now, kind of doing a re-grand opening for 2015. We're sprucing it up, we're making it even more streamlined, we're making it more, easier to use. We've cleared out some of the old groups that were inactive and we've got some new fresh blood in there. I'm so excited to have Erica - you all know Erica, she's a co-host here. She has a lot of expertise in setting up these kinds of sites, so she's given me all kinds of suggestions. And my IT staff and I, especially Marianne and her guys that she works with are just going in there and sprucing it up. So, please go to Our Hypno Space.com.
And you know, it's not all just about hypnosis, and work, and building your practice. The newest group is called "Hypnotists' Lounge." And you know what we want to do? We also want to facilitate just building relationships and getting to know each other. So that if we go to the National Guild of Hypnotists convention, or we go to the Solid Gold weekend, we go there and those friendly events become friendlier than they ever were before. Anything you want to add to that so far?
Brenda: Actually I'm so glad that you mentioned that Cal, because I think that was my biggest inspiration and excitement about getting Our Hypno Space back up and running. I am personally friends with a few hypnotists out there on Facebook and that's really great, but that's for people that I know personally, I've met, I've engaged with, and I'm willing and open to share my personal and professional life with. But I really liked actually when you got the "Hypnotists' Lounge" going, because I felt like "Well, this is a place that I can share a little bit about myself, but still in a professional environment." And that I really noticed - for myself recently - was really of value. I recently had to take some time off of work, and I was at home by myself a lot. Me and my dog and my cats. And it was lonely. And the truth is even when I'm here in the office, I work at the Banyan Hypnosis Center, I'm working with people most of the week.
But the truth is that sometimes I don't get an opportunity to engage with other people, and I realize that sometimes that can be kind of lonely. And I admitted in my introduction on Our Hypno Space, I'm an introvert. I can very much be on my own, but every once in awhile it's good to engage with other people. So I've kind of the other day been thinking about other ways that I can start conversations on the "Hypnotists' Lounge", largely because I realized that sometimes that's just kind of fun. Just to have an easy conversation, simple, and exactly like you said, is that: then we feel like we know each other. So that when we do get together at Solid Gold, or we do get together at the convention, or maybe we just go and visit each other's local area, then we feel like we have personal relationship, that it's just a little bit easier to engage and enjoy those times together. So that we can grow personally as well as professionally. What do you think about that, Cal?
Cal: Well that's exactly what we're trying to do. Our mission is to provide a space where all hypnotists - it doesn't matter what your background is, you might be Ericksonian, or you might be 5 Path, or whatever it is that you do - you're all welcome at Our Hypno Space. The idea is to create that environment, that collegial environment, that friendly environment, where you can talk in a safe manner.
There's an old computer term called "flaming," and that's where you can get, on some groups, I've seen people get pretty nasty, and even gang up on other people. That is not allowed on Our Hypno Space. And I think the fact that we use our real names and have a real picture of ourselves helps to keep that down. So it's just the safest, most enjoyable, most professional hypnosis social networking and professional networking website there is.
One of the coolest things is the groups. So you go there and there's a "Groups" button, and it will drop down - you want the most active, the most popular, the one with the latest changes, whatever you want - and it will list them accordingly. And I want to give you a list of some of the groups we have, so you can see if there's a group for you that you might be interested in. So, first there's the "Hypnotists' Lounge," we've been talking about that. You can talk about hypnosis there, but it's really about everything. You could be talking about current news, you could talk about the weather for all I care. Your favorite hobbies. Wouldn't it be fun to find a hypnotist that you also have another interest in? For example, I like to meet hypnotists that also like to ride motorcycles. That's a very cool thing.
Then there's the "Marketing Hypnosis" group which has just been taken over by Erica, our co-host. She has done some wonderful things. She went from zero to full-time in the profession, having to replace a very significant IT income, she did that in one year. And she's taking over the marketing group. She's going to teach you how to do that, and especially teach you how to do it online, which is really the way to go nowadays if you ask me.
There's another one, very, very popular: "Hypnosis Scripts." So, you go to OurHypnoSpace.com, click on the groups, click on "Scripts," and there are scripts there for you. There's also information there how to write your own scripts, how to modify your own scripts, and that kind of thing.
There's a group on there called "Our Hypno Space Help," and so if you have a question about how to do something, boom! You know what? You can go to that group and Marianne - that's her group - she'll take care of you. And as a matter of fact, if it's during normal working hours - Pacific time 9:00 to 6:00 - you give us a call, and someone will be able to help you out with a question instantaneously.
The "How to Hypnotize Faster" group, that's one of my groups and we talk about the 8-word Induction, and the Air Induction, and these kinds of things. Why do we need to hypnotize faster? Because we owe it to our clients to be as efficient and professional as we possibly can.
Next is the "Hypnosis Professional Outreach" Group. This one is about talking about "How we get hypnosis out to communities that really aren't aware?" Or they're especially not aware of the professional possibility. It might be different places in the world, it might be cultures within our United States, so outreach in that way.
Then there's the "Hypnosis Central" group where we talk about these videos. Hey, we got our place on Our Hypno Space. Then there's a bunch of private groups, for example the 5 PATH - there's a special interest group of 5 PATH . . . oh, that's not a private group. We're going to have a private group, but we also have an open group which is "Worldwide Support."
And then the most important group on there without any doubt, is your group. Because any member could go in and click this button that says "Make a New Group," and you can have your own group. There's so many interests that people could start. Now you don't have to be an expert in your group's topic. Let's say you're really interested in working and learning more about sports hypnosis. Start a "Sports Hypnosis" group, and start asking questions. Or let's say you're very interested in using hypnosis to help kids. Super easy. All you have to do is start a group, "Hypnosis for Kids," and then start asking, putting in your two cents worth. And you know what? Other people who do know about that can join, and help, and raise. You don't have to be the ultimate expert to have one of these groups. You just have to have an interest and commitment to the group to keep the conversation going, invite people, and stuff like that. What do you think of that, Brenda?
Brenda: I think it's great. And I'm really looking forward to - like I said - especially right now where I'm feeling called towards, is being out there and developing relationships. So, I'm looking forward to, especially in the coming year, learning and growing with people, which is one of my favorite things to do in addition to helping people grow through hypnosis. So I'm looking forward to getting more people out there, getting more people engaged, and getting more engaged myself as well. So I look forward to seeing everyone over there.
Cal: Awesome. Hey, just a couple of more things. Some other features on the group . . . first of all, I want to recognize that everything that Brenda said is true. Brenda is such a people person. She's so engaging. Me? I'm like in my head, I'm doing technical stuff all the time, and of course I like to talk about hypnosis and other things. But I think I'm going to try to talk Brenda into taking over a group or having a group. Maybe she could be like the bartender at the "Hypnotists' Lounge," or something like that.
Brenda: That's what I was thinking about doing.
Cal: Okay. So while you're on there, you could also message any member you want. There's a photos area, there's a videos area where it's just quite interesting. I have four or five short videos where I've taken little video clips from different movies and television shows that exemplify Hollywood's idea of hypnosis. We've got an audios area, which is going to be growing like crazy. And all these areas, you can post to. The live member chat, you can always just chat with, if you see someone else that you know is online or someone who is in a group and you have a common interest, you can just say, "Hey, I want to chat to you."
Right now we've really streamlined the site. So there are many more areas and functions that we could add, but we've decided we're not going to clutter the site up with a whole bunch of stuff like that. When you folks say "Hey, can we have this?" or "Can we do that?" Like "Can we have a polls area, where we can take polls?" or something like that. We'll say, "Yes, we can do that, and we'll plug it in as you guys need it." But right now, we just want it streamlined and simple. Alright. Anything else you want to say about that, Brenda?
Brenda: I just wanted to add, of course obviously we want everybody to get out there and join Our Hypno Space if you're not already on. Start engaging, joining the groups. One of the keys is you want to join a group, but you also want to subscribe if you want to be notified when there are changes and updates. Marianne and I have talked a little bit about, as she's working on just making the site as accessible as possible, so we look forward to seeing you guys all over there. And I know Cal, actually you have posted a couple of interesting videos. Do you want to talk about that a little bit right now?
Cal: You know what I want to talk about, as a segue-way, is: so we can talk about whatever we want on Our Hypno Space. So I just started a topic thread, I think it's in the "Hypnotists' Lounge." And just through the Internet news, all over the place, there's this video. These news agencies who know nothing about hypnosis have been claiming that there's this fellow that walks into a liquor store, and somehow instantaneously hypnotizes the store clerk, steals his money, and walks out. I've not yet found a version of this that has any audio for the hypnotist. Basically - according to this video - this individual has some kind of magic touch. He touches him in two places. The guy - they say - puts him into deep hypnosis, and then he's able to steal his stuff. You heard me talk about that, Brenda. You got any input on that?
Brenda: I have not watched the video yet myself, but I know one of the things that's interesting is sometimes there's news out there that's about hypnosis, or "hypnosis" - what somebody says is hypnosis - that is not accurate. And I think that actually having a place like the "Hypnotists' Lounge" for Cal to share things like that, and for us to be able to have some conversation as it's happening, that could be really valuable. So that in case any of you are out there and somebody asks you a question about it, you can feel a little bit more prepared to answer that by keeping an eye out on the things that we talk about out there on the Our Hypno Space site.
So, that was kind of what I was thinking about today as we prepared to talk about it.
Cal: Cool. So, one of the things that we're going to be talking about - that video - is "Do you think that's even possible?" I'll have a link to the video. "Do you think that that's hypnosis? And what do you think when news like this comes out? Does it help us or does it hurt us?" For example, it might frighten some clients. They might be afraid that they'll come in and then you will empty their purse when you're supposed to be helping them stop smoking. Or other people, they see this and they go, "Wow. That hypnosis is really powerful. I'd like to go see . . . " and it increases their belief in hypnotism.
Hey it's about time to wrap it up, do you want to wrap it up?
Brenda: It sure is. Well I'm glad to be here today. I look forward to seeing you all over there on Our Hypno Space. I can also be reached at OCHypnotherapy.com and on Facebook I'm available at Healing Path Hypnosis. So I look forward to seeing you guys all. Like I said, Brenda Titus on Our Hypno Space, as well as OCHypnotherapy.com. Have a great week everybody, and we will talk to you later.
Cal: Alright you guys. Hey, I want to see you in class, and we do have early registration specials. The next two classes coming up: March 2nd is our NGH approved Banyan Hypnosis Certification Super Course, it's the 10-day certification course. It's everything you need to get going. And then there's the Week of Power. It's the advanced hypnosis hypnotherapy course, and it starts on May 3rd. 7 days, and both of them are truly confidence and competence building course. You'll be able to leave, and actually be able to do this work. Alright. That's it. So glad to see you. I want to see you in class. This is Cal Banyan signing off.