Denise Billen-Mejia 0:00
Hi, this is two hypnotherapists talking and today our guest is Jason Langley who's going to be talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia and Martin Furber about how he got into hypnotism and why he thinks it's such a good idea. Hi Jason.
Jason Langley 0:19
Yeah. So I got into hypnotherapy around four or five years ago, when my wife and I had split up. And I thought, well, I've got to, I need to go back onto the dating scene. I've got a major fear of food. So I had to overcome that. So
Denise Billen-Mejia 0:42
Whoa, whoa, whoa, let me let me interrupt you there. You have a fear of food?
Jason Langley 0:46
Yes. Yes. So
Denise Billen-Mejia 0:49
Could you could you make that a little bit more? Sounds like you thought spaghetti was gonna chase you down the road or stuff?
Jason Langley 0:57
I was always happy and comfortable with what I knew I could eat, but tryanything new...
Denise Billen-Mejia 1:04
You're, you were worried about new foods?
Jason Langley 1:07
Yeah, yeah. So my diet was quite bland. I wasn't adventurous at all with it. And yeah, trying new foods, which would result in kind of a panic attack, really. So yeah, so I found a hypnotherapist locally to me. And just hit it off straightaway with him his first email back to me, you could just see his passion in the email, and that he could help me. So I went there. And had the first initial consultation, felt, do you know what this guy absolutely knows what he's doing knows about me. You know, it was really personal to me. And I really liked it. So consequently, obviously started having some sessions, about three sessions in, we started actually looking down or looking at trying new foods. So he asked was, you know what, you know what you want to try first. So I said, I'd like to try steak never tried, it would'nt have a clue on it at all anything. So he did his session, we, we were there for about an hour session. I remember driving home, thinking is this really going to work I got home. I think it was two days later, I planned to have the steak. I remember it now clearly sitting at the table, cutting the steak up and actually starting to eat it. And to this day, I still find it amazing. And even though I understand how it works, I still find it amazing because there was no panic attack. There was no anxiety around it. All that had just disappeared. All of that. And that was it. So, I spent about 10 sessions with them in the end. And at the end of their sessions. Yeah, we have spoken about me looking at becoming a counsellor. I'd my level one counselling here in the UK couldn't get into level two, because it was fully booked. And my therapist said, Well, why don't you become a Hypnotherapist? And I'm like, I don't really think it's for me. So after a few slight conversations, we did get talking quite a lot. And yeah, I become a Hypnotherapist. He he has a school locally here. So he taught me. And yeah, I've you know, I've loved every minute of it. I started that journey of learning in 2019 qualified over a year ago, and haven't looked back really I've loved every minute of it.
Denise Billen-Mejia 3:52
Great. How does it fit into what you were doing before? Other than being frightened of food? What did you do to put food on the table?
Jason Langley 4:00
What do you mean by that? Like,
Denise Billen-Mejia 4:02
What kind of work were you doing before you began?
Jason Langley 4:06
So yeah, before that, I was I was managing companies. I was managing sort of like stores and companies. Anything from a family run company here where I live up to a national international companies, completely different.
Denise Billen-Mejia 4:26
Was the counselling part of that work? What were you doing the counselling was for something else you were doing?Or just were interested.
Jason Langley 4:32
Yeah, I've always been interested.
Denise Billen-Mejia 4:34
Didn't you do some coaching work of Jason though with children?
Jason Langley 4:40
Yeah, I did. I did coaching, because I used to be an athlete before and I started coaching. I think I was about 22, 23 due to an injury. Again a time my coach at the time said why didn't become an athletic coach. And I was like, again, is it for me? People obviously know me more than myself. So yeah, so yeah, I started coaching 100 and 200 metres. I did that for 12 years. Yeah. I was quite successful at it coached at quite high level. So yeah, so you know, quite enjoyed that. But yeah, with the counselling, Denise, I don't know, I've just always liked, I've always been interested in that sort of thing. And with like friends, people would always come to me with their issues. And just really talk to me about it. So it was quite nice. So I thought, well, let's try and make a career out of it.
Denise Billen-Mejia 5:49
Yeah, yeah. So you you established the hypnotherapy business quite quite soon after training, or, or did you build out as you were in training? A lot of schools require you to take a certain number of clients before you qualify. So did you already have a basis of clients?
Jason Langley 6:04
Yeah, so the good thing about our course that we did is, you literally see, start seeing clients from day one. You do it free of charge. And you just do like the relaxation side of it to begin with. And then as you go along, obviously, for your training, you build up to certain things. And then, you know, by the end of it, you're doing full sessions. You know, with paying clients. So I think by the time you finish, or I finished my training, I have probably done well over probably 100 150 hours of seeing people easily. Easily, you know, so yeah, it was good to get that that basis there. Because I think if you've done the whole course have not seen anyone. Yeah. We then pushed into that. Oh, God. Yeah. So yeah, so that's quite good. So yeah, I then. So yeah, I hope I had my business running from the beginning of the year, but properly went self employed probably the beginning of this year. Which has been quite an eye opener.
Denise Billen-Mejia 7:15
So yeah, you have a full time practice now. Yes. Excellent. Thank you for making time to be with us today. But what what sort of schedule Do you do you follow do you see mostly British people?
Jason Langley 7:30
Yeah I've seen one American person, which has been quite, quite interesting. But yeah, mainly mainly British people. And it's
Denise Billen-Mejia 7:41
Online.
Jason Langley 7:42
Yes online, both in person and online. Yeah, I think most of them being sort of like Poole, Dorset area, which is quite interesting.
Denise Billen-Mejia 7:52
Are you down South?
Jason Langley 7:54
Yeah, I'm in the southeast.
Denise Billen-Mejia 7:56
I'm from Salisbury originally. I know. Quite well, thank you. Yeah, they're on Sunday. So what what is your niche? Do you have a particular client that you market to? I know, most of us will see anybody that comes to us as they need help? But is there something that really pulls you?
Jason Langley 8:16
Yeah, so when I when I, when I first started and really got into it, I really wanted to go down the PTSD route. And really enjoyed working with a few people with PTSD. The results I got were amazing. So that, you know, I thought I wanted to niche into that. But over time, I've kind of pushed that to the backburner. And now I'm niched into teen anxiety. Over Obviously, last few months when we've come out of lockdown.
Denise Billen-Mejia 8:46
That's what I mean, yeah. When kids came out of lockdown, they were clearly anxious before but now everybody can see them too. Do you find it is that parents are calling you or kids calling you or schools calling you or what have you?
Jason Langley 9:00
It's more parents calling and saying obviously, my child's obviously a bit anxious going back to school or the other issues around school. So yes, it's more more parents than anyone else in that contats me.
Denise Billen-Mejia 9:16
We, on top of that, also have school shootings that kids are anxious about.
Jason Langley 9:23
Yeah, completely different. Yeah.
Martin Furber 9:25
Fortunately, we don't have that over here.
Denise Billen-Mejia 9:27
Thinking of PTSD just from the drills that they do. They are required to do. Yeah, I'm sorry. That took a dark turn there. So I know Mark Martin's had to visit the dentist today. So he's quiet today. Normally, he'd be a lot more chatty
Martin Furber 9:46
For those watching this on YouTube. I'm looking a bit strange. I have a tooth out this morning, I'm afraid so I'm going to leave the talking to Denise and Jason. They're doing a great job without me.
Denise Billen-Mejia 9:58
So Jason, where do you see your business? going,
Jason Langley 10:00
I just want it to grow more and more and more. Yeah, I want to get more into schools, that's slowly happening, obviously at the moment,
Denise Billen-Mejia 10:09
Would you would you go in as a counsellor or just introduced, so the parents would be able to refer to you through being introduced to you at the schools? Or would you go into the schools to work?
Jason Langley 10:20
So I want to go into the schools to help with anxiety around exams? Yeah. Big one. Yeah, I've got a programme for that, which, like I say, at the moment, I'm talking to a few schools in the local area, to go in and deliver that programme. But yeah, I think mainly, it's go into schools and do talks. And get myself known as the go-to person for for the children's anxiety and mental health, you know, invite parents, to assemblies or after school talks, as well, to help them understand why their child's feeling the way they're feeling. And basically what I can do about it, and it's not me that, you know, there's, there's other people out there that definitely can help and support them as well. So, you know, that's, that's where I see it going.
Denise Billen-Mejia 11:14
Right? Do you get referrals from physicians? Have you reached out to the physician community where that's, you don't really work in the medical, it's more in the academic stuff?
Jason Langley 11:24
Yeah. No, I haven't reached out to any GPS yet. That is on my list. I think mainly, for me, it's just getting to the schools first, then start looking at probably, you know, the GPS, and any local authorities as well.
Denise Billen-Mejia 11:42
What what is the main message you would like the general public to know about hypnosis and the kind of work that you do? Other than you too can enjoy a steak, if you want to.
Jason Langley 12:01
I'm just it's probably the same as you know, probably, you know, you two for that as well. But you know, hypnotherapy isn't that woowoo kind of affair. You know, it's, you know, I was trained by CPHT. And, you know, their, their approach, and you know, their knowledge is all based on neuroscience. So, when a client comes to me, you know, I come back everything I say, with neuroscience, not that many people out there that can kind of say that. So, like I say, for me, it's just, I love hypntherapy. I really do. I talk about it all the time. No, I'm just trying to break down those those barriers of someone's standing there with a watch. Yeah. Or look into my eyes, you know?
Denise Billen-Mejia 12:57
Yeah, I mean, focal points are fine. So fortunate people fixed on the lovely Victorian pocketwatch. That's a focal point.
Martin Furber 13:04
So Jason, for the benefit of people who don't know anything about the type of hypnotherapy you do, could you sort of give a brief description of our hypnotherapy session would be, after the initial consultation? What would they expect to find each week when they come to see you?
Jason Langley 13:19
Yeah, so after initial consultation, it's very set with what obviously we do, we can change obviously, certain things depending on obviously, what the client says it's, you know, it's not so kind of like a one size fits all, it's, it's there to be adapted to the client that's in front of you and their needs. So, you know, the first thing obviously, we do is make them feel comfortable and happy in themselves, you know, so we read them, you know, we've nice positive actions and words, to help them get in their intellectual mind, to help them start to produce that serotonin and start making them feel happy. And then we start talking about what's been good over the last week. So they do have a little bit of homework where they have to write their diary down. Three things that made them smile or be happy during the week. So that's quite nice. We then talk about bit of brain revision, so if they say anything to me that I think that you know what, I'm going to tell them a bit more about that. To help them understand why they're thinking that or you know, how they can change that part of their thinking as well. We then go on to the happiness scale. So how happy they are as they sit there in the chair. All of our our hypnotherapy we don't ask them anything about their past. You know, we are great believers that we've lived the past we've survived the past.
Denise Billen-Mejia 14:47
For people who who are who are listening who aren't hypnotherapists as this is your particular, not your particular but the way you were trying to school of hypnotherapy that you follow. You don't do any regression work you don't do memory work. Now that's interesting with trauma. So I've realised I'm stopping your flow there for a bit. If you're talking about PTSD, most people have heard that EMDR is very useful for PTSD, which also does not require you to relive the trauma, but your brain is processing the trauma. You if you are not quite thinking about it. Well, it's working in your brain. How do you How would your form of hypnotherapy work with PTSD?
Jason Langley 15:31
So yeah, that's a great question. So we've that, obviously, you know, we do obviously, a rewind and reframe technique. But we've we've, you know, depending on what their PTSD is, you know, the trauma is, you know, we wouldn't visit revisit that. So, let's just take someone that that is, has trauma from the army, or has lived, obviously quite a traumatic times, you know, in Iraq, or wherever in the worldthey've been, you know, they may have an issue going to fill their car up with petrol. Because the smell of petrol obviously brings back that trauma, if someone came to me with that sort of trauma, I wouldn't then go and relive their past, what I would do is try and reframe them go into the petrol station, and make it more of a positive experience for them going to the petrol station. So they're not going there, with the anxiety already building up going there. And then obviously, maybe having flashbacks, panic attacks, when they're trying to feel their car up, you know,
Denise Billen-Mejia 16:49
Are you able, are you able to change the response to that trigger of the smell of petrol?
Jason Langley 16:54
Yes, yeah. Because, you know, all we do is ask them how they would want their their perfect situation of going to the petrol station is so you know, when they go into the relaxed state, we then, we then go over that image, again, that memory again, obviously, we know that the brain can't tell the difference between imagination and reality. So, then, let...
Denise Billen-Mejia 17:25
Just just to clarify, the memory you're talking about is going into the petrol station. Not what was going on in Iraq?
Jason Langley 17:31
Yeah. So, that they would be living that that memory of going to the petrol station, and you know, not having a panic attack, not having anxiety or having a great experience for them going into the petrol station. And then I say when they're in trance, so relaxed state, they, they would then be thinking about that image all the time. So it's embedded in their mind. So when, when we actually when they actually go back to the petrol station, the mind cannot go right. This is a dangerous situation, because it's in that that perfect happy image for them. It over-rides that image and then they then go and have a great experience and don't relive..
Denise Billen-Mejia 18:16
I'm very amused by a great experience at a petrol station
Jason Langley 18:19
That's because probably not the greatest word to use, is it a petrol station?
Denise Billen-Mejia 18:27
Oh, I got a candy bar. You but you can at least have a neutral or not unpleasant experience at the petrol station. You'd say hello to somebody nice. Yes. Of course we've always got sticker shock. I imagined the petrol has gone up considerably in the UK as well recently. We had some, our petrol is way cheaper here than in the UK. And we buy it by the American gallon and you by the - are you still on litres now you've Brexited? You haven't gone back completely. Okay. But it's I mean that's so cheap. No, it's not.
Martin Furber 19:06
Yeah, it's working not over here at about nine pounds a gallon at the moment.
Denise Billen-Mejia 19:10
Oh, Lord. Yeah, that's way worse, ours is falling again. But it's still over four $4 a gallon, which is rather, rather less but of course our gallons are smaller than yours. There's so many things that are weird about this. Two countries separated by common language. So I'm sorry, I did interrupt you. So the basic thing is that a client will come in, have a very pleasant conversation with you, then have a very relaxing time with you and walk out feeling happier. Would you ever make anybody cluck like a duck or chicken I should say.
Jason Langley 19:50
Oh definitely not - definitiely not.
Martin Furber 19:52
Jason. going back to when you were an athletics coach, was that mainly teenagers or was that people of all ages?
Jason Langley 19:59
Yeah it was, I think the youngest person I had was 12. And I think the oldest person I think was 25.
Martin Furber 20:12
No, I'm just wondering if there are a lot of comparisons. You know what, I've never been an athlete. I've never been a athletically coached, but I'm just wondering if there are a lot of comparisons with the type of hypnotherapy you do in terms of positive future visualisation and that kind of thing?
Jason Langley 20:28
Yeah, there definitely is, definitely is, you know. When I, when I qualified, I reached out to a couple of my old coaching friends and said what I was doing and I said, Look, if you've got any athletes, I'm happy to see them and you know, and then help them you know, progress with their psychological skills. And, and I said to them, I said, Oh my God, if if I knew this, when I was training myself or coaching, you know, my athletes would have been even better than what they were at the time. Because it is the visualisation and the power of visualisation as well. It's just amazing.
Denise Billen-Mejia 21:09
I had some colleagues over the side, who, of course work online, everywhere in the world, but one is a golf hypnotist. That's that's his main clients. Serious, serious pro-golfers and another woman, Karen Bird. Her practice really grew out of her. One of her sons. Yeah, Karen Okay. Her son was a wrestler. And that's how she got into and she got that's what she does. Yes. It's the attitude of a champion. Is her business. Yeah. The famous, you know, the ski runs at Sochi. That's how people practice they were up on them, visualising what they were doing. Yeah. That's it. That's an amazing aspect of hypnosis, which is probably rebranded to be something else. That doesn't sound too WooWoo for people. It's hypnosis folks!
Martin Furber 22:09
Of course Jason you've been trained by the school where Glen Cately, the boxer, world- middleweight champion was trained to be a hypnotherapist, which he became after he gave up his boxing. But he was he was hypnotised by David Newton, wasn't he? And yeah, he credits all his wins to being hypnotised. Of course,
Jason Langley 22:32
Yeah. His story's amazing. If anyone ever gets a chance to listen to his story, it's it's just phenomenal how he talks it through and yeah, how hypnotherapy has definitely helped him when he slows all the all the fights down to show what he was seeing and doing at the time. And yeah, very interesting.
Denise Billen-Mejia 22:52
One of my first clients was a woman whose hobby was playing pool. And she had a big competition coming up, and she just really I just want to be in the flow. She won. She's that one session. And she was also a decent pool player. She credited the hypnosis with with getting the here they call them for some reason they call them the Yips, the just you just, just sort of a little bit of you sort of choke when you're getting people past that up when it's a major competition.
Jason Langley 23:33
I think that's the same term over here actually YIPS.
Denise Billen-Mejia 23:36
Well, not being an athlete myself. It's very, it's it's also what's very interesting about being a hypnotist. You don't, you don't have to describe it. You just say, okay, and now you're starting. You're good. And you let them that's all happening in their head. Yeah, I don't have to ski. Which is good, because I don't like skiing I could if I really needed to learn that thing. I now have a whole bunch of colleagues who could help me achieve that. But yeah, that is an amazing part of it, that every change is something that's within you. The answers to the issues are within you. And hypnotists are just there to lend a guiding, helpful hand.
Jason Langley 24:20
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Like I say, I tried to think well, but if I had this when I was late. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Denise Billen-Mejia 24:30
Me and my many many many exams that I used to have to take in my prior life. Which every time I turn around another exam.
Jason Langley 24:42
Does make you wonder, doesn't it? No, would
Martin Furber 24:44
Would you say Denise would you say you've been able to cherry pick the best bit of being a doctor being a hypnotist now? You know the actual...
Denise Billen-Mejia 24:53
I wonder if, if I wonder if I would have chosen to I mean, I really wish I'd had the skills when I was working emergency medicine. I did that for many years. And I worked with children. So it really would have been so helpful and I'm furious that I wasn't taught it. And that's, that's why it's my passion. This is to get this information out to more doctors, because a lot of them have heard of it. And they're very politely nodding. And some really do, the pocket watch and the WooWoo is what they think of when they when they think of hypnotism. But I wonder if I had been trained in this as a younger person before I went to medical school, I wonder if I would have gone down the psychiatry route, rather than the physical medicine? Because it is such a powerful tool?
Jason Langley 25:43
Yeah. It's just people like us need to keep putting that positive message out about it.
Denise Billen-Mejia 25:49
Yeah, it is very, Wow! The changes can be really fast. And for some people, they're not in that. That's part of the problem. Some people think they're going to come in and you're going to (Click finger) you know your image, you know, you're a fantastic chess, chess, chess player or something, and, and it's going to be an instant change. And for some people it is, it just is so wonderful that you can practice all these things in your mind, and your brain can't tell the difference.
Martin Furber 26:20
What, Jason - What do you think's the most sort of magical part of what we do?
Jason Langley 26:25
Cor..it's quite interesting question really. I think the whole lot I know that sounds open ended. But it is it's the whole lot it's,...when you get a client that just is so involved in what obviously they're meant to be doing to help themselves. The change is just so quick. Yeah, I remember a client within four sessions had changed their life around you know.
Denise Billen-Mejia 27:03
I had a client a few months ago, who become coming out of COVID had a lot of social anxiety. She She just couldn't make herself do the things she had been doing before, a widowed lady who just wanted to be social not not find a mate, just just be out in the world and having friends. And so we have one session, and when I saw her two weeks later, and as my standard is. So, I don't think this is working. Okay, well, what we've been doing Sure, well, I joined a golf club, and I go out walking with these people. And I'm having lunch with these best friends. And I'm going on two international trips when we shouldn't say it that way. She's I'm going to x in April. I'm going to Y in July. Okay, well, let me know if you need anything.
Jason Langley 27:53
Yeah. Clients are funny like that. aren't they, they just don't see it. And as as professionals, as we are all know, we we cannot say anything. Now. You just now go. Thank you very much. Yeah.
Denise Billen-Mejia 28:10
What's lovely is this is this lady. She sent me a lovely little testimonial that I was lovely therapist, and she was very happy. She saw me. I'm glad she didn't write It didn't work.
Martin Furber 28:25
Well, that certainly went very quickly, Jason. We're almost out of time. How can people get in touch with you?
Jason Langley 28:34
So there's two ways. One through JPL hypnotherapy. Just search that on the internet.
Denise Billen-Mejia 28:42
We'll put it in the show notes.
Martin Furber 28:46
We'll put a slide, for those watching on YouTube. We'll put a slide on at the end.
Jason Langley 28:50
And obviously my other company is the teen anxiety coach. So yeah, either then, get hold of me any way you like.
Martin Furber 29:01
So is that theteenanxietycoach .co.uk? Yes, yep. Yeah, brilliant.
Jason Langley 29:05
Yeah. So is JPL hypnotherapy .co.uk.
Martin Furber 29:09
All right. Well, I'm sure we'd both like to thank you very much for coming on.
Denise Billen-Mejia 29:13
Yes. Nice to meet you properly this time. Yeah.
Jason Langley 29:16
Yeah, thanks Martin and yeah, you Denise as well. Yeah. Thank you very much.
Denise Billen-Mejia 29:20
Thank you. Bye bye. Bye.
