[Transcript] – In Which Ben Greenfield Is Hypnotized Live On A Podcast (And 3 Embarrassing Personal Admissions From Ben).

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Transcripts

Podcast from https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2016/09/how-to-get-hypnotized-and-how-hypnosis-works/

[0:00] Introduction

[0:50] Organifi Green Juice

[2:43] Onnit Zen Spice

[4:35] Four Sigmatic Chaga Tea

[6:54] Introduction To This Episode

[8:27] Strict Warning for Today's Podcast

[10:15] Who Is Mark Dhamma?

[12:37] What Is Done In A Typical Hypnosis Session

[13:35] Why Your Brain Is Like A “Rider” and Your Body Is Like An “Elephant”

[15:13] Could This Be Applied To Physical Patterns

[16:36] How To Train The “Elephant”

[17:55] The Hypnosis Session

[18:40] Three Slightly Embarrassing Personal “issues” of Ben That He Wants to Fix In His Life, and How Hypnosis Can Be Used to Address Those Issues

[1:02:35] What Changes When a Hypnotist Is In the Same Physical Place As You vs. Working With You Digitally or Via Skype

[1:05:45] How You Can Learn Hypnosis For Yourself

[1:11:13] Discount Code for People/ Personal Hypnosis Session

[1:15:50] End Of Podcast

Ben:  Hey, y’all.  This podcast is a little bit weird because I get hypnotized during it.  I'm totally not kidding.  It's probably not the best audio episode ever because I'm getting freaking hypnotized.  No, seriously.  I wanted to show you what hypnosis was like, and I was actually having dinner with one of my buddies who is a hypnotist and he's like, “I'll hypnotize you for a podcast.”  So I said, “What the heck, let's do it.  We'll probably lose all our listeners, but I'm gonna do it anyway.”  So if you have like zero interest in hypnosis, you should probably stop listening.  But if you want to see what hypnosis is like and you're not operating heavy machinery, then keep listening.

But before you get to see me get hypnotized, and no, I don't do any crazy things like put on lipstick and dance like a ballerina so my hypnotist and you can laugh at me, I want to tell you about a few things.

The first I wanna tell you about is moringa, M-o-r-i-n-g-a, it's also known as the horseradish tree.  It's like this little tree you find in India and Pakistan, a cute little horseradish tree.  This thing is jam-packed with all sorts of interesting things.  One of the things I like about it, not that I ever drink alcohol ever, but just if I did, theoretically, it's actually one of the best ways to protect your liver against oxidation, and toxicity, and damage.  They've done studies and they've shown it can actually restore liver enzymes from a beat-up liver back up to their normal levels and reverse liver oxidation while increasing bile flow so can do things like breakdown fats.  Super interesting.

It's got a lot of other stuff in it too.  It enhances wound healing.  It's got some anti-microbial properties.  It's even a mild nootropic.  They've have tested it as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease with what they call favorable preliminary results, which means that we think it might help you but we can officially say that.  Anyways this moringa stuff is just one of the many, many, many ingredients in Organifi Green Juice, and this is a gently dried green juice powder that you can add to anything.  I put it in smoothies, personally.  And you get a 20% off of this.  If you wanna see how your body feels on moringa, or you want some to drink after you drink, go to bengreenfieldfitness.com/fitlife.  That's bengreenfieldfitness.com/fitlife, and the discount code Ben will get you 20% off.  I do not endorse beating up your liver.

This podcast is also brought to you by what I use to make myself smell amazing.  When I do shower, I rarely shower with soap.  It's like once every three days 'cause I like my skin to have all of its healthy microbiota.  I'm not kidding.  If you come to my house in the mornings, don't do that, you will find me, I'll tell you why you don't wanna do that in a second, you'll find me out in the backyard under my garden hose, showering myself with just water only.  No soap.  Naked.  So, yeah.  That's what the Greenfield home looks like at 7 AM in the morning.  So be careful if you're like the Fed Ex or the UPS guy, or girl, making a delivery that early.  Anyways though, and you'd be surprised of the number of our friends who have seen me naked because they visit our house in the morning to do something, and I'm naked in the backyard.  I digress.

When I do use soap, I use this stuff called Zen Spice.  It's made by Onnit, and it's a body wash that is made with coconut oil.  It's biodegradable.  It has no added chemical fragrances or colors, just like their deodorant has no artificial flavors or colors.  Flavors?  I don't know why you'd be eating it, but you could!  You could eat it.  It's vegan, which means it hasn't been tested on animals, and it is biodegradable, like I mentioned earlier, which means it's safe for, I guess, camping, unlike dirty diapers.  So anyways, the ingredients are amazing.  It's like cinnamon, and rosemary, and aloe leaf, and eucalyptus, and, of course, coconut oil.  So you can get this, or anything else from Onnit, if you go to onnit.com/bengreenfield.  That's onnit.com/bengreenfield.  10% off all supplements and foods, and 5% off any of their fitness equipment.  And the name of that stuff I just mentioned is the Onnit  Zen Spice Body Wash.  The Onnit Zen Spice Body Wash.

Finally, I want to tell you about rose hips.  Not Rose's hips.  I'm sure Rose has some great hips, but I'm talking about rose hips.  The actual plant, I guess it's a plant, extract.  It is one of the most jam-packed vitamin C bombs on the face of the planet. And this packet of stuff that I put in my coffee each morning called chaga, wild-crafted Siberian chaga mushroom. They've also packed a bunch of rose hip into that. Now chaga is awesome for your immune system.  Once you throw in a bunch of vitamin C, it literally has over 25% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin C, not only does it increase the absorbability of all the dual extracted goodness of the chaga mushroom, but it's just an extra bit of help for your adrenal glands and your immune system.  And it makes it taste really good too.

So this stuff's made by Four Sigmatic Foods, and you can get this chaga tea with the rose hips in it, and anything else from Four Sigmatic Foods like their awesome mushroom coffee, really spins some dials in your brain, you go to foursigmatic.com/greenfieldFourSigmatic.com/greenfield, and use coupon code Ben Greenfield.  And when you do that, you get not 5, not 10 but, count 'em, 15% off any of that stuff, including the chaga with the magical rose hips in it.

So, now you can either turn off the episode and go back to your lives, or if you want to be the world's leading authority on hypnosis, or at least close to it, sit back and listen to me get hypnotized.  Oh, and by the way, we talk about things that I wanna change in my life.  This one's mildly and personally embarrassing for me to release.  It's one of those close-to-my-heart type of episodes, but I can tell you life has gotten better since I got hypnotized.  The things that I told my hypnotist that I wanted to work on, that you're gonna find out in just a second, all three of those things that I told him I wanted to work on, I've actually gotten a lot better at.  So it is kinda cool.  I dunno.  Maybe I just hypnotized myself, and tricked myself into it, and it's all placebo.  Or maybe I really truly did get hypnotized.  You have to find out.  Tune in.

In this episode of the Ben Greenfield Fitness Show:

“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 have experienced this.  Yes, this is happening.  Yes, this is happening.  Oh, this must be happening too.'” “What I actually do is I get into the state that I want you to go into first.  People have been watching this, they'll see I look like I'm asleep half the time.  I put myself in a trance.”  “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.”

He’s an expert in human performance and nutrition, voted America’s top personal trainer and one of the globe’s most influential people in health and fitness.  His show provides you with everything you need to optimize physical and mental performance.  He is Ben Greenfield.  “Power, speed, mobility, balance – whatever it is for you that’s the natural movement, get out there! When you look at all the studies done… studies that have shown the greatest efficacy…”  All the information you need in one place, right here, right now, on the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast.

Ben:  Hey, folks!  Welcome to a very special episode of The Ben Greenfield Fitness Show, for multiple reasons.  First of all, 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 fellow behind me because, in today's podcast, we are talking about hypnosis.  And 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's gonna be over at bengreenfieldfitness.com/hypnotize.  Good luck spelling that. bengreenfieldfitness.com/hypnotize if you wanna 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 driving 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 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 Dhamma, is that how you actually pronounce your last name, Mark?  Dhamma?

Mark:  Yes.  Exactly.  Thank you.

Ben:  D-H-A-M-M-A.  Sounds like some kind of like an Ayurvedic Indian legend or something.  Aside from the Mark that comes before it.  Mark Dhamma.  I was sitting with Mark at the SoHo House in West Hollywood a couple of months ago 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?

Mark:  Csikszentmihalyi.

Ben:  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 a Sir John Whitmore, who's considered the founder of modern day life coaching.  Or would it be like positive psychology coaching, Mark?

Mark:  Executive coaching.

Ben:  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 kinda 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 session 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?

Mark:  Okay.  Well, I think first what I'll do is introduce a little bit of hypnosis, and what it is, and how it works on a basic level.  ‘Kay.  So first of all, there's a simplistic way of looking at our mind.  And you can think, we've got a conscious mind, and that's you and me talking right now, Ben.  You rationally thinking about what I'm saying, what you'll say, 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 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, there's 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 the rider.

Ben:  Okay.

Mark:  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 he can look around, see where he wants to go, and it thinks it's in charge.  Then he's on top of a big, huge elephant, elephant is extremely powerful, strong, big, but relatively dumb compared to the rider.  Now things work…

Ben:  I dunno, man.  Elephants are smart.  At least I've heard.  Or they have a good memory.  One of the two.

Mark:  It's not a good memory, I've heard.

Ben:  Okay.  Go ahead.  We digress.

Mark:  (chuckles) And 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 like, “No.  I don't wanna go that way.”  Okay, because there’s 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 wanna start eating a healthier diet, or you may wanna stop 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 habit.  That's like the rider wanting to go a certain way and elephant just thinking, “Nah.  I don't wanna.  I'm not going there.”

Ben:  Right.  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 on a run, you revert to like a natural, let's say, 80 cadence.  Like could use things like this to actually train physical patterns as well?

Mark:  I believe you could.  Yeah.  I believe you could.  If it's like, “Okay.  I know the mind wanna run at 90, but then maybe halfway into the run, the mind gets a little bit lazy.  You're like, “Ah, I'm just gonna do what I like to do, which is 80.”  Yeah, I believe it could.  That's like your rider saying, “I wanna run at 90,” and then elephant would be like, “Nah.  I'll just do it at 80.  That's what I like to do.”  So, yeah.  I believe it could.

Ben:  Yeah.  Okay.

Mark:  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.

Ben:  Right.  Okay.

Mark:  So that's what we're doing.

Ben:  Alright.  That makes sense.  So how do we train the elephant?  What actually comes first?

Mark:  Well, we're gonna do it right now and I'll explain how it works.  And there's lots of different ways.  With hypnosis, we're primarily using language to do it.  How about we just go into it, and then at the end, I'll explain some of the tricks?

Ben:  Sure.  Sounds good.  And by the way, for those of you listening to or watching the video, Mark is an ex-fitness model and quite the beast himself.  So this is probably the most intimidating guy I'll ever get hypnotized by.  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?

Mark:  Alright.  I also wanna add that I'm also a long-time fan of the show.  Been listening to you about four or five years now, and it's the one podcast I do actually make sure I listen to.

Ben:  Cool.

Mark:  So, yeah.  This is cool for me too.

Ben:  Flattered.

Mark:  Alright.  So first of all, Ben, here's what I'd like you to do.  I'd like you take your, sit down really comfortable.

Ben:  Okay.  I'm comfortable.  I'm laying back on my little 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.

Mark:  Cool.  Just before we get started, would you like to reiterate to me and to the audience a couple of things that you wanna get out of this session.  You sent me a voice note, just some of the things wanna get out.

Ben:  Yesterday, you asked me, “What behavior changes do you, Ben, want to change about yourself,” or what kinda things come to mind that you would want to change about yourself.  And I mentioned a few things, 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 for 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.

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 if people wanna stop by for the day, or there's some random person coming through town that wants to have lunch, or my kids notice that the day is really hot and so they're begging dad to go to the water park.  If I look at my wife, 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's series of moving targets happens to throw at her that day, whereas I get in a funk if I'm not able to 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 thing that I perhaps would paint as something that bothers me, or bugs me sometimes about myself, is that I expect perfection of myself.  I live in the health and fitness sector as a “guru”, and so sometimes I feel as though when I wake up in the morning, I have severe pressure to do everything from, 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 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, et cetera, because I'm supposed to be that guy who's always healthy, or 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 friends.  I'm very good with one too many, like having lots of unclose friends, or followers, fans, acquaintances, et cetera, stuff like that.  But in terms of me really having, especially like close, like male friends, like people who I would consider to be close brothers et cetera, 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, like lots of acquaintances, relatively popular people at my house growing up all the time, but not really a lot of close friends in terms of watching my dad.  And for me personally, I don't have a lot of close friends in my life who I just, say, hang out with.  And sometimes I feel as though part of that, for me, 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.

Mark:  Alright.  Great.  Awesome.  Okay.  So confirm, what you'd would like is to deal we've change more with ease, more go-with-the-flow?  How would you describe it?

Ben:  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 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.

Mark:  And how would you like to feel about this perfectionism?  What will be an ideal situation?

Ben:  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 wanna say, “Hey.  You know what? Today, 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 who's got the health and fitness podcast, who's got everything figured out, and that I would love to be able to feel more comfortable just being who I am rather than trying to put a forward-facing picture of perfection to the world, if that makes sense.

Mark:  Okay.  Got it.  Thank you.  And then the final one, the friendships, like what would be ideal for you?

Ben:  You know, that one's tricky.  I haven't had close-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 a very, very long time.  I can't even really tell you how long that I've been, probably since college, since I graduated college, and started the family, et cetera, I've been a bit of a lone wolf.  And again, and people out there listening in, 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, et cetera, but these are more things like masterminds, people I see every quarter and hang out with, not people I necessarily have strong, lasting relationships with in my local community.  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 kinda 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 that perfect person I wanna be friends with.

Mark:  Alright.  Awesome.  Thanks, Ben.

Ben:  Yeah.

Mark:  Alright.  So we're gonna start right now.  And what I'll like you to do is let you 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, relax, staring at the ceiling, noticing the things you've never noticed before.  And as you feel the back of your neck against the roller, and your breathing in and out, in and out, you just notice how heavy your eyes are feeling right now.  That's right.  And noticing the sounds outside, noticing your breathing, relax.  Now close your eyes and just listen to me as your breathe out and in because, Ben, I wanna talk to you about a race.  Now 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 things you all 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, see water, see bikes, hear 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 some more, run even harder, cross the line, line 'em up?  What's the best way, Ben, to relax, to smile, to know a thing or two about optimal performance?  You do know how to best adapt to curveballs, Swiss balls, stability balls, tennis balls, 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, Ben, always relaxed because you know that is 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?  Breathing in, relaxing out.  In, out.  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. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, there's a grander plan for everything.  And sometimes, maybe all the time, everything 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 savanna.  Relax.  Focus 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 its 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 savanna, walking with poise, no pressure to be perfect.  Being what you naturally are.  The leopard hunts, the leopard plays, has friends, family, cubs, your cubs, scouts, 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?  “With great power comes great responsibility.”  To the leopard, he doesn't feel that.  Instead, it's focused, playful, adaptable.  In the race, you have to be.  Right, Ben?  What happens if he swings a little slower, or the bike's not as smooth, or you feel it all quicker?  Maybe he 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.  And 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, just tell us what was happening there.

Ben:  Well, you have a very relaxing voice, first of all.  Yeah.  It was kinda like being on the edge of awake and sleepfulness.  Like a half-awake, half-asleep state.  Can I sit up here and get a little closer to the microphone?

Mark:  Yeah.  You can sit up.

Ben:  Cool.

Mark:  You're gonna be going right back down in a moment.

Ben:  Okay.  Yeah.  A little bit of like a half-awake, half-asleep state.  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 hypnotized.

Mark:  He was hypnotized.

Ben:  It felt as though I was, again like the best way you can describe it is when you wake up in the morning and you're kinda like half there, half out of it.

Mark:  Perfect.

Ben:  So, yeah.  That's how I felt and, yeah.

Mark:  Okay.

Ben:  Is that what you're looking for?

Mark:  Yep.  That's perfect.  Lie back down.

Ben:  Okay.  Yes, sir.

Mark:  That's right.  And then as I count down from three to one, you're gonna go right back twice as deep.  You understand?

Ben:  Mhmm.

Mark:  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 doubles.  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 how you're meant to be.

Fly in your garden, 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 relax.  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 with ease, grace as you run across the savanna 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 were designed to be.

Now on the bike, as fast as you can, along to move close, on his own.  Can be lonely at times, all that effort, 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 friends, your brothers and sisters, families all over the world you know.  Friends, acquaintances, fans, all of these people in your tribe, your pack, has a leader, inspirational, authentic, [0:49:3] ______, and honest.  Always now, forever and ever.

Go back to when you were a little kid.  That's right.  You remember the days.  Your best friends, their friends, all playing a game.  That game of life.  You practice.  You play.  You had good friends, real friends.  All that practice as a kid, sports practice, the computer game practice, the riding practice, and the other practice, Ben, 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, ingredients, timing, nurturing as it rises.  Out of the garden, in the garden, you plant a seed, 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, stronger and stronger, friendships become, with focused sunlight, with patience and care.  Fruit trees bloom and give so much air, fruit tastes like success.  When investing, you pick your stocks. You choose the ones that you want to support.  Give it time, energy, money, and care.  Because it's just like investing, Ben, 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 he, 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 like training.  No pressure. Relax.

Congratulations, Ben, because you finished the race.  For now, you'll be relaxed and flowing, open, investing, perfectly perfect, now and forever.  You'll understand and smile because now you know the truth.  Now when I count down from five to one, four, three, you'll open your eyes only when you've taken in all the lessons you needed to take, you chose to take.  Five, four, three, two, one.  Whenever you've taken those lessons, Ben, open your eyes and sit up.

Ben:  Alright.  I'm back.

Mark:  So Ben, what's different for you?

Ben:  What's different for me?  I feel very, very relaxed right now.  It's not often that at 10 AM 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 also a sense to be a little bit more open, more, I suppose the word of the day would be vulnerable.  And I feel at peace, but also knowing right now that we are live, 90,000 plus people listening into this podcast.  Yeah, vulnerable.  That's the way I feel, but at the same time 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 see if it changes my interactions, my thoughts, my activities, et cetera.  And I was also a little bit, I guess intrigued by what I consider to be your wordsmithing, your wordplay.

Mark:  Right.

Ben:  I guess a question I have for you is like were you ever like a freestyle rapper, or a musician, or someone?  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?

Mark:  So I model my hypnosis a lot on this guy called Milton Erickson, Dr. Milton Erickson.  And he was, I guess, he was really the originator of this type of word smithing.  What I'm doing, Ben, 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.

Ben:  Right.  I could see, during a few different times of the session, or whatever you call it, where you were doing that, where I would, it was really weird.  You'd be throwing around these things that actually impressed me in terms of how much you know about my life, tennis and triathlon, and the cubs, and the bible.  All these little things and I would find myself on this little rollercoaster ride of kind of like dipping in and out of, I suppose, like 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 to behavior patterns, I suppose.  I don't know if that's what you were going after, if I'm just completely messed up and a freak in my head, but that's kind of what I noticed.

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

Ben:  Yeah.

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

Ben:  Right.  Yeah.  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 them arms folded, speaking to them?  Or is this something that folks can benefit from even if it's electronic like this?  Even though it's digital?

Mark:  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, they'll 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, I put myself in a trance.

Ben:  I'll have to go back and watch the video now because I wasn't actually watching you.  So you go into this trance-like arrives and produce energy?

Mark:  That's right.  And then the other things, it helps if I can see, feel, and hear what you're seeing, feeling, and hearing because I can always go back to, “Oh, 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 it can focus on you. But to be honest, because I can see you and because I can, I mentioned your breathing a lot, in and out, you may have noticed, and my observations of saying, “In and out,” were directly in sync with your breathing because I could see your stomach.

Ben:  Right.

Mark:  And when I'm doing that, unconsciously or consciously, your brain is like, “Oh, yeah.  I am breathing in and out.”  And I'm like, “As you can hear the sound outside.”  “Oh, I can hear sounds!”  “And you can feel your back against the floor.”  “Oh, yeah. I am feeling my 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 them I'm making a suggestion that you're feeling even more relaxed.  And because your brain is like, “Yes, I am experiences this.  Yes, this is happening.  Yes, this is happening.  Oh, this must be happening too.”

Ben:  Right.

Mark:  It's easy enough to do it over Skype.

Ben:  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 talk about these and I mention 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?

Mark:  I actually got certified by the American Board of Hypnotists a few months back 'cause I took an 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.

Ben:  Pam Castillo?

Mark:  Yeah.  Pam Castillo.

Ben:  How do you spell Castillo?  ‘Cause I'll take some notes for people.  C-a-s-t-i-l-l-o?

Mark:  Yeah.

Ben:  Okay.

Mark:  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.  There's books on it.  Just reading this book right now, “Patterns of The Hypnotic Techniques” of Milton Erickson.

Ben:  I'll link to this one in the show notes.  “Patterns of The Hypnotic Techniques”. Interesting.

Mark:  That's right.

Ben:  So how long a period of time did you study these techniques?

Mark:  Honestly, I started studying hypnosis only maybe two, three months back.

Ben:  From now?

Mark:  Yeah.  From now.  I would say the difference is, I'm like yourself, I'm interested in optimal performance.  Physical and mental.  My master's degree in Positive Psychology.  This is my life.  So I hypnotize people pretty much every day.  So I've been doing it every day.  Friends, family, myself, clients.  Whoever.  I do this pretty much every day.

Ben:  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?

Mark:  Yes.  I'm 31.  So I started fitness modelling 10 years ago.  Back in London, as 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 took an executive coaching course, 'cause 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.  And for myself and for my clients, and 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, psychological aspects has done more for me and done more for my clients than anything fitness-wise.”  It's helping them be happier, more confident, high levels of well-being, motivated and focused, and 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.  Then I got into my NLP, neurolingustic programming, where you're talking to the unconscious mind.  That's what Tony Robbins started off with.  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 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.  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 neurolinguistic programming.

Ben:  Right.  And we've had some NLP podcasts before.  One in particular in which, for racing, I went through a session in which we formed an anchor 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 really interesting.  I made a little bit of a mistake because a great deal of my racing at that point involves swimming, and the anchor involved placing one's index finger around one's thumb, which kinda 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 wanna kinda 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.

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, you know, mention my name, that type of thing, so that they get the white glove treatment from you?  And anything along those lines that you wanna fill people in on?

Mark:  Yeah.  Well, we're gonna put a link on your site, Ben.  Hypnosis.

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

Mark:  Absolutely, because I'm a long time listener, and I enjoy the discount codes, and I used Ben 10 just yesterday.

Ben:  People all over the globe purchasing smart drug-infused coffees, and blue light blocking glasses, and coffee enema kits using the Ben Greenfield codes.  So it's appreciated.  Okay.  Cool.  So we'll put a link in the show notes at 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. Mark, go ahead.

Mark:  Here's 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.  I will 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.

Ben:  That's fantastic.  I just realized the added benefit of this being a podcaster 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 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 the day and the rest of the week with this mindset that Mark has established. And, Mark, I wanna 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.

Mark:  Okay.  And one last thing, Ben.

Ben:  Yeah?

Mark:  The truth is, you already became more vulnerable right at the start of this podcast.  Before we even went in to the hypnosis session, you already made it shift by openly admitting what you wanted to shift.

Ben:  Yeah.

Mark:  You already made the change.

Ben:  Yeah.  It's such a good point.  I see what you did there.  Nice little trick.  Alright.  Well, I know we've been going for a while, and I actually 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 bengreenfieldfitness.com/hypnotize.  And until next time, I'm Ben Greenfield along with Mark Dhamma signing out from bengreenfieldfitness.com.  Have a healthy week.

You’ve been listening to the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast.  Go to bengreenfieldfitness.com for even more cutting edge fitness and performance advice.

 

 

Warning: I 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, operate heavy machinery, ride a bicycle, etc. during this episode. If you do, you may end up in your local newspaper in a way you don’t particularly like.

A couple weeks ago, I sat across from my friend Mark Dhamma at SoHo House in West Hollywood, leaned in over my roasted chicken and Moscow Mule drink and asked him my burning question.

“So could you hypnotize me?”

He confidently nodded.

“On a podcast?”

He nodded again.

And so, what you are about to hear came to life. Mark Dhamma is a High Performance Health & Mindset Coach on primarily Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and private sessions like those you’re going to hear in this podcast, Mark shares advice on how to look, feel and perform at your best with 32,000 people in over 20 countries.

Mark has 17 years of experience in the health industry, including being a Men’s Fitness model and health coach. With his Masters Degree in Positive Psychology under the famous, “Flow” Professor, Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, he teaches science backed proven techniques to be happier, more confident, motivated and productive. Mark gained executive coaching skills from the Royally Knighted Sir John Whitmore “The Founder Of Modern Day Coaching”, as well as using NLP and Hypnosis to literally re-program his clients to be successful.’

During our discussion, in which I am hypnotized while lying shirtless on the floor of my office, you’ll discover:

–What exactly happens to your body and brain when you get hypnotized…[12:50]

-Why your brain is like a “rider” and your body is like an “elephant”…[13:35]

-Three slightly embarrassing personal “issues” I have that I want to fix in my life, and how hypnosis can be used to address those issues…[18:40]

-What changes when a hypnotist is in the same physical place as you vs. working with you digitally or via Skype…[62:35]

-How you can learn hypnosis for yourself…[65:45]

-And much more!

Resources from this episode

Hypnosis Practitioner: Pam Castillo

-Book: Patterns of Hypnotic Techniques 

-Podcast on NLP: “How To Get To Sleep At Night Before A Big Race.

Click here to get your own hypnosis session and get $200 off when you use the code BEN10.

 

 

 

 

 

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