Using the Client’s Process in Hypnotherapy (and Why It Works)
- Claire Jack
- Jan 21
- 6 min read
As someone who has taught thousands of hypnotherapy students, and who also knows personally how reassuring it can feel to hold a script, I want to say this clearly: scripts can be incredibly helpful.
They give structure, reduce performance anxiety, and make it easier to stay calm and confident while you’re learning. Even as an experienced practitioner, a well-written script can be a supportive framework.
But there’s a skill that takes your work beyond “reading a good script” into something that feels deeply personal and transformative for the client.
That skill is use of process.
When you’re aware of process, you can still use scripts — but you can also enhance and deepen the client’s experience by working with what is happening right now, in this session, with this person.
So what do we mean by “process”?
What process in hypnotherapy means
In hypnotherapy, process is everything that is unfolding in the client in real time.
It’s the client’s internal experience (thoughts, emotions, images, sensations), their outward behaviour (breathing, posture, fidgeting, facial expression), and the relational dynamics in the room (trust, control, fear of being judged, desire to “do it right”).
Use of process means you treat those real-time experiences as useful information and useful material for change — not as distractions you have to get rid of.
This approach is often associated with Ericksonian hypnosis, but it fits any style of hypnotherapy that is client-centred, trauma-informed, and practical.
Why it matters
A lot of hypnotherapy training (and a lot of online scripts) assume the client will:
Relax quickly
Visualise easily
Follow suggestions smoothly
Want change in a straightforward way
In reality, many clients arrive with a nervous system that’s on high alert, a mind that won’t switch off, or a history that makes “letting go” feel unsafe.
Use of process works because it stops you fighting the client’s experience. You join it, validate it, and then shape it.
What counts as “process”?
Here are common things you can actively use during hypnotherapy sessions. This is the part many practitioners miss, because these moments can look like “problems” when they’re actually opportunities.
Language patterns (the client’s exact words):
Repeated phrases like “I’m stuck,” “I’m too much,” “I can’t cope,” “I always mess it up.”
Absolutes like “always/never,” which often point to rigid beliefs.
The client’s preferred sensory language (see/feel/know/hear), which helps you match their processing style.
Their personal metaphors (“a knot in my stomach,” “a wall,” “a storm,” “a tight band”).
Emotions (even the ones they don’t want):
Anxiety, shame, anger, grief, numbness, overwhelm.
Sudden emotional shifts (tears, laughter, irritation) that show you where meaning is held.
“Mixed feelings” — when one part wants change and another part is frightened.
The emotion underneath the emotion (e.g., anger protecting sadness; busyness protecting fear).
Somatic signals (the body’s language):
Tight chest, lump in throat, clenched jaw, heavy shoulders, fluttering stomach.
Restlessness, fidgeting, tapping, leg movement — often a regulation strategy.
Changes in breathing (holding breath, shallow breathing, sighs).
Temperature shifts, tingling, heaviness/lightness — all usable as trance markers.
Resistance and ambivalence (often protection, not sabotage):
“I don’t think hypnosis works,” “I’m doing it wrong,” “I can’t switch my mind off.”
Fear of losing control, fear of being judged, fear of what might come up.
A part that doesn’t want to change because the symptom has a job (safety, belonging, avoidance of disappointment).
Intellectualising, analysing, humour, or “staying busy” as ways to stay safe.
Distractions (external and internal):
Noises, interruptions, phones, people in the house, pets, traffic.
Intrusive thoughts, mental chatter, “to-do list” thinking.
The client opening their eyes, checking you, asking questions mid-trance.
Forgetting what they were saying, losing their train of thought (often a trance doorway).
The client’s learning style and imagination style:
Some clients visualise vividly; others don’t visualise at all.
Some feel sensations more than images; some think in words; some “just know.”
Some prefer direct suggestions; others respond better to permissive language.
Some need more structure; others need more choice.
The relationship and the room (the relational process):
How quickly they trust, how much reassurance they seek, how much they fear “getting it wrong.”
People-pleasing, masking, performing, trying to be the “good client.”
Testing behaviours: “Is this okay?” “Am I doing it right?”
The client’s need for autonomy, pacing, and consent — especially in trauma-informed work.
Micro-shifts and trance signs (tiny evidence of change):
A sigh, swallow, yawn, softening in the face, shoulders dropping.
A slower blink, stillness, deeper breathing.
A spontaneous image, memory, or phrase.
Even a small “5%” shift in sensation is proof the system can move.
The core benefits of recognising the client's experience
1) It increases safety
When you validate what’s happening, the client doesn’t have to perform. That alone can downshift the nervous system.
2) It builds rapport fast
Clients feel understood when you use their exact words and lived experience, not generic language.
3) It creates tailored suggestions
Suggestions land better when they match the client’s internal world. “One size fits all” scripts often miss.
4) It turns symptoms into pathways
Instead of trying to eliminate anxiety, you can explore what it protects, what it signals, and what it needs.
5) It makes you flexible
If the session is messy, emotional, or unpredictable, you still have a clear method.
How can you bring the use of process into your client work?
Using resistance
Client: “I’m not sure I can relax.”Therapist: “Good. Then we don’t have to try to relax. We can just notice what ‘not relaxing’ feels like… and let your system do this in its own way.”
What you’re doing: removing pressure, turning the “problem” into permission.
Using anxiety
Client: “My chest feels tight.”Therapist: “Let that tightness show us how hard you’ve been working to cope. And we don’t need it to disappear. Perhaps we could work on softening it by 5%… in its own time.”
What you’re doing: honouring the symptom, asking for a small shift instead of something that seems undoable, avoiding a power struggle.
Using distraction
Client: “I keep thinking about my to-do list.”Therapist: “Perfect. Your mind is doing its job. Those thoughts can pass through like notifications… and you don’t have to open them right now. And you can know that your mind is constantly working away in the background sorting all it needs to sort”
What you’re doing: normalising, then redirecting without criticism.
Using the client’s metaphor
Client: “It’s like I’m carrying such a huge weight around just now.” Therapist: “Then we can work with that backpack… noticing you can set it down for a moment… just like carrying any weight, you can choose whether you want to keep carrying that just now or not”
What you’re doing: using the client’s imagery instead of forcing your own.
When you’re not sure what to do next, this five-step structure keeps you grounded:
Notice what is happening (words, body, emotion, resistance).
Validate it (remove shame, normalise the nervous system response).
Utilise it (turn it into the pathway: metaphor, protector, signal, resource).
Invite a micro-shift (5% softer, one breath deeper, one degree of change).
Future pace (where this new response shows up in real life).
One of the problems hypnotherapists face when working with a client's process is trying to shift things too quickly:
Trying to “fix” the feeling too quickly: clients often need to feel safe with the sensation before it can shift.
Over-directing: if a client is highly controlled or anxious, strong directives can backfire.
Ignoring the body: the body is often the most honest part of the process.
Assuming resistance is sabotage: resistance is usually protection.
Working with a client's process means focusing on their experience, hearing their words, and working at a pace that is right for them and fits with the way they experience and process their world. Being conscious of this way of working ensures you stay tuned into your client at all times. And if you're using scripts and protocols it allows your client to always feel heard, respected and met half-way in the therapy room.
Use of process respects the client’s autonomy. It doesn’t demand surrender. It doesn’t force relaxation. It treats symptoms as intelligent adaptations.
That’s why it’s so effective for clients who have spent years masking, coping, over-functioning, or trying to do therapy “correctly.”
If you want your hypnotherapy to feel less like performing a script and more like guiding real change, use of process is one of the most reliable skills you can build.
The client will always give you something to work with. Your job is to notice it, respect it, and shape it into a new experience.
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