If you have listened to any of my weight sessions, you will know I rarely just tell you to eat less and move more. Instead you find yourself in a car, on a film set, on a motorway or looking after a horse. People sometimes ask me why.
The short answer is that the part of the mind that runs your habits does not respond well to lectures. It responds to pictures, feelings and stories. A good metaphor can carry an idea past the part of you that likes to argue.
It is an old idea. People have taught through stories for as long as there have been people. In hypnosis, when you are relaxed and focused, a story can be taken in with less of the usual inner commentary getting in the way.
How a metaphor speaks to the unconscious mind
Your conscious mind already knows a great deal about food. It can tell you what you ought to eat. The trouble is that habits are run by a quieter, more automatic part of you, and that part has heard all the advice before.
A story slips in sideways. When I describe your body as a hybrid car, nobody is telling you what to do. You work out the meaning for yourself, and ideas you work out for yourself tend to stick. A metaphor also leaves you with an image you can call up later, in the kitchen or the supermarket, without needing to remember a rule.
Stories are easier to feel, too. It is one thing to know that a slip does not ruin everything. It is another to picture taking a wrong turn on a motorway and simply finding the next exit.
This is also why I tell the same ideas through different stories. One listener connects with the car, another with the horse. The message underneath is often similar. The wrapping changes so it fits more people.
Some of the metaphors in my sessions
Here are a few of the images I use, with the idea behind each one. None of them are clever tricks. They are ways of saying something true in a form your mind can hold on to.
The hybrid car is about energy and hunger: learning that a twinge is not always an emergency, and that your body has an onboard computer worth listening to. The film puts you in the director’s chair, so you can rehearse a future that feels believable rather than out of reach.
The horse asks why you would care for an animal better than you care for yourself. The road trip is about consistency: you can change lanes, stop for a break or miss a turning, and still be heading in the right direction.
- The hybrid car: energy, hunger and intuition
- The film: directing your own story
- The horse: caring for yourself like something precious
- The road trip: lanes, breaks and wrong turns
Something to try: find your own picture
Think of something you already look after well. A car, a garden, a pet, a business, a home. Then ask yourself: ‘If I treated my body the way I treat that, what would I do differently today?’
Write the answer down in one line. You have just made your own metaphor, and you can come back to it whenever you need it.
If nothing comes straight away, that is fine. Leave the question with you for a day and see what turns up. Often the best pictures arrive once you have stopped trying to think of one.
Episodes to listen to
Each of these sessions is built around one main metaphor. Pick the one whose picture appeals to you most.
Your Body as a Hybrid Car: A Metaphor for Weight Loss Hypnosis
You become water flowing into a hybrid car, where the fuel tank stands for energy from food and the batteries for energy the body has stored. Stored energy is presented as nothing to be ashamed of, and the car’s onboard computer as your intuition, which knows more than you think about real hunger. It closes with suggestions to eat more slowly and trust your body’s signals.
Good if you often eat out of habit rather than hunger.
The Weight Loss Movie: A Hypnotic Metaphor
In a film studio on a desert island, you direct and star in a film of your own change, planning it scene by scene on a storyboard. You see it both through the camera and through your own eyes, and setbacks become part of the hero’s story rather than the end of it. The outer change is treated as a reflection of an inner one.
Good if you find it hard to picture a believable future version of yourself.
The Hypnotic Weight Loss Horse: A Weight Loss Hypnosis Metaphor
In a dream within a dream, you look after a valuable horse and protect it from being fed sugar, then become the horse and feel how different it is to be cared for well. The session asks a simple question: if you would care for an animal this well, why not yourself? The aim is to build the sense that you deserve the same care.
Good if you look after everyone and everything except yourself.
Hypnosis to Lose Weight: The Weight Loss Road Trip
First you notice the good decisions you already make for your family and partner. Then you drive down a motorway towards the person you want to be, with lanes for different levels of commitment, service stations for breaks and wrong turns that do not end the trip. The care you show others is carried across to food.
Good if you tend to feel one bad day is the end of the whole plan.
Common questions
Why does hypnosis use metaphors?
Metaphors can help an idea reach the automatic part of the mind with less inner argument. They also give you vivid images that are easy to remember when you need them.
Do I need to believe the story for it to work?
No. You do not have to think your body is literally a car. It is more like watching a good film: you go along with it, and the meaning often lands anyway.
What if I can’t visualise clearly in hypnosis?
Plenty of people do not see clear pictures. Some hear the words, some get a feeling, some simply follow along. All of these are fine, and many people find the ideas still reach them.
Please read
Hypnosis works with habits, feelings and attention. It is not medical treatment and does not replace your GP. If you have, or think you may have, an eating disorder, or you are pregnant, diabetic or taking weight-loss medicine, please speak to your GP first. Beat, the UK eating disorder charity, is on 0808 801 0677. The podcast sessions are for adults: listen somewhere comfortable, never while driving.
Where to go from here
Listen on The Hypnotist Podcast
Every session above is free to hear on The Hypnotist Podcast, along with more than 200 other weight and eating episodes.
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More on this topic: whether hypnosis works for weight loss.