For this case study, I am going to use the client who wanted to stop drinking wine in order to assist in losing weight. I had seen her for a couple of hypnosis sessions with some good results, but without reinforcement sessions her success was not as long lived as she would have liked.

Having some new NLP techniques added to my “toolbox,” I decided to use a couple of approaches in our last hypnosis session. The session was, as you would say, “Fascinating!”

We began our session by changing her sub-modalities for wine. I asked her to picture in her mind’s eye a glass of wine and to describe the picture to me.

What do you see? A glass of white wine.

Is it big or small? Oh, very big.

Is it moving or still? Still, except for the bubbles.

Is it close to you or far away? Oh very close…its right in front of me.

Does it have any color? White wine in a crystal glass.

Does it have a sound? No.

Does it have a smell? Yes, it smells very good.

Does it have any feelings associated with it? It’s making my mouth water. I fell glowy and happy.

Where do you feel these feelings? In my mouth. The glowy is just throughout my body, and the happy is in my head.

OK. If you were to make a grid, and place this picture of wine in the grid, where would it be located? Top right hand corner.

Good. What I’d like you to do now, is think of a food or drink that you can’t stand? Bananas (said without hesitation).

OK. I’d like you to picture a banana in your mind’s eye. (client grimaces) Tell me what you see. A big banana.

Is it moving or still? Still

Is it close to you or far away? Kind of close, but not nearly as close as the wine was.

Does it have any color? Yellow with gross brown spots (grimaces again)

Does it have a sound? Just blaaghh.

Does it have a smell? God yes, it’s awful.

Does it have any feelings associated with it? It’s making my nose feel bad.

Now if you were to put this picture of the banana in the same grid as the wine, where would the banana be located? In the bottom right hand corner.

Good. What I’d like you to do now, is I’d like you to take that picture of the glass of wine and slowly slide it down the grid and put it in the same spot with the banana, allowing the glass of wine to take on the same properties of the banana….the smell, the color yellow with gross brown spots, that blaaghh sound, feel it in your nose, feel that awful smell in your nose. And just allow yourself a moment to see that glass of wine in that spot and absorbing all those qualities of the banana. (Paused, allowing time for the transfer of sub-modalities)

Good, and open your eyes. And close your eyes again. Now picture a glass of wine again…and place it in the grid. Where is it located? Middle right. Not as high as the first time….but it smells like a banana now (client grimaces again).

Good, let’s see if we can help move that even further down the grid though.

I did the Dave Elman induction. Since she had been hypnotized a couple of times before, this quick induction was enough for her to be very relaxed. I then followed it with a visual squash. When she brought the new part into her, she brought it into her solar plexus. I questioned her following the process.

How was that? Good, but strange. When you asked me to have the two parts look at each other, it was like my hands were possessed or something. They just seemed to turn towards each other on their own. Then when they came together in agreement, you could see my hands twitching couldn’t you? I was trying to keep them apart, but they seemed to have a mind of their own and came together anyway.

The right hand, the hand that represented the part that wanted to quit drinking wine, how was it symbolized? By a sun.

And the left hand, the hand that represented the part that resisted you in quitting, how was it symbolized? The color maroon…just a color, nothing else.

Interesting. Was “maroon” able to let you know why it resists, why it holds onto the behavior? Yes, I realized that its’ reason for drinking was to help me with stress.

Were the parts able to come to some understanding that would help you achieve your goals? Yes…it was so weird! The sun and maroon actually hugged. (“Fascinating!”) And they came to the understanding that stress is good – it’s not a bad thing – and I don’t need to get rid of it!

She left the office feeling wonderful and with renewed confidence that she had finally overcome her backsliding. She felt completely empowered. I followed up with her a few weeks later and she still has no desire for wine.