FAQ

Do you wonder if hypnosis is real? Are you sceptical, do you actually not believe in hypnosis? Hypnosis works even if you don't believe in it. Someone who believes that hypnosis is 'fake' and does not really exist can also go under hypnosis.

Hypnosis has been proven to exist since the 1990s: since then we have been able to analyse this state of consciousness thanks to MRI and PET scans. Do you find it hard to believe in hypnosis? Or are you not quite sure what to think of 'language lessons under hypnosis'? Then this page is for you.

Here we answer the most frequently asked questions about hypnosis, how hypnosis works in our language lessons and about the scientific basis of hypnosis. We even tell you that you also regularly experience hypnosis on a daily basis!

Do you want to put it to the test? Our discovery lesson under hypnosis will give you a good idea what to expect. Are you coming to try it?

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When you are under hypnosis, you are in a state of consciousness in which you are completely relaxed and focused on a particular subject. That state of consciousness can be ‘obtained at will’: you can go under hypnosis at a chosen moment, such as in a language lesson.
When you are under hypnosis, you feel comfortable and confident. Although you are completely present and awake and therefore not in a sleep state for example, you become detached from all the thoughts that normally tumble over each other in your head. Things like to-do lists, appointments, deadlines and uncertainties, which normally demand a large part of your attention, now step off the stage, so to speak.
What remains is a smoother presence in the here and now in which you effortlessly focus on what you perceive with your senses.

You are certainly not alone if you get a little bit nervous about the idea of ‘going under hypnosis'. Many people have prejudices about that word: they think, for example, of hypnosis shows, in which someone does what the hypnotist makes him do. Maybe you are a bit unsure about 'language lessons under hypnosis'.

But: hypnosis has got nothing strange. In fact, you already know what hypnosis feels like. Everyone regularly experiences events that make you feel what hypnosis is like. For example:
1. When was the last time you read a really good book? Your eyes flew over the lines, you kept reading, couldn't put the book down. At one point you looked up and noticed: hey, it's dusk! You had been reading for hours, without any sense of time.
2. Or do you remember the times when you drove home from work? You drive there every day, so you know the road like the back of your hand. When you park the car at home, you realize that you can't even remember much of the journey, and certainly not all of the actions you took.
That's exactly what hypnosis feels like. You do something concentrated, focused and 'completely automatic', without being aware of it, without effort. Only when you get out of 'autopilot' do you think: boy, I didn't think about it at all, didn't put any effort into it at all, and yet I did it. You subconsciously had complete control, it went 'by itself'.

When you are in deep relaxation, you are also much more receptive to everything you perceive with your senses. But in deep relaxation you are in a lighter state of altered consciousness, while hypnosis is a little bit deeper. You could call deep relaxation a kind of light version of hypnosis.
You can compare deep relaxation with when you do a guided meditation: you are calm and receptive to what you hear and learn, but at the same time you are aware of what that meditation does to you. When you are under hypnosis, you are not concerned with your relationship to what you perceive: you simply observe with 100% focus.

Some people are "more susceptible" to hypnosis than others. It is impossible to predict how you will react to the guided relaxation during our language lessons, whether you will go into deep relaxation or hypnosis. And it doesn't matter, because all forms of deep relaxation or hypnosis do their job: your brain focuses on the lesson and you learn quickly, effectively and without uncertainty.

Yes. Some people associate hypnosis with being at the mercy of the hypnotist, but that is not so. You remain fully conscious during your language lesson under hypnosis. You are in control of what you do and what you don't. It is like when you are completely absorbed in your hobby: you forget about time and everything around you, you are in a state of hypnosis. But the moment someone asks something you don't want, you know very well that you don't want it, and you don't do it.

Do you think language lessons under hypnosis is an unusual concept? Then feel free to come and follow a discovery lesson. Our teachers know that hypnosis is something unknown to many people. They are trained to properly explain how hypnosis works, to help you feel at ease and to give you a nice, instructive lesson. We often hear after a discovery lesson: 'I was quite nervous about the hypnosis part, but as soon as I was under hypnosis, I found it wonderfully relaxing. It felt very normal, I was just myself, it was no different than usual. I don't know what I was so nervous about.'

Think back to the example above: you read a good book and you become completely absorbed in it, you forget everything around you. At that moment you are hyper-receptive and hyper-available: all your attention and thinking power goes to the story. You are not aware of other things, you feel at ease and experience the story as if you were there yourself.
It is precisely this hyper-receptivity and hyper-availability that are great if you want to learn something new: you automatically concentrate on what your senses perceive. Your concentration is effortless, you don't have to force yourself to pay attention, but you feel good and are fully available for your lesson material.
By deliberately putting yourself into a state of hypnosis during a lesson under hypnosis (thanks to a hypnosis induction) we ensure that you are fully available and receptive to absorb the material. And it doesn't feel like learning at all: you concentrate yourself on something and it feels interesting. Like when you read that book and got lost in it.
Therefore, hypnosis helps you not only to concentrate, but it also brings you complete relaxation. Strange but true: people who work full-time and take our courses for example between 6 and 9 pm are often tired from their working day just before their lessons, but they go home with renewed energy after their language lessons. Hypnosis is so relaxing for your mind and body!

Yes, there is scientific evidence that it is easier to learn a language under hypnosis than 'the normal way'.
Learning under hypnosis works so well because hypnosis ensures that the prefrontal cortex is less active. The prefrontal cortex is the area in your brain that makes plans, sets goals, makes decisions, and regulates emotions, for example.

Just imagine: if you don't set all kinds of goals for the day in your head, make decisions and / or update your mental agenda, then there is suddenly a lot more space in your head, so to speak, space for other things. You can then, for example, fully focus on your language lesson.

There are several scientific studies that show that people who learn a language under hypnosis learn better and faster than people who learn that language 'in the normal way':

1. A study showing that people who are in a deeper state of hypnosis have better pronunciation of a foreign language.
In this study, people were asked to pronounce 15 Thai words without hypnosis, under hypnosis, and after hypnosis. It turned out that the deeper people were under hypnosis, the better their pronunciation. Hypnosis can therefore help you to pronounce a foreign language better.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2015.1121373

2. A study that concludes that a language is better remembered when you learn it under hypnosis.
Seventy people took part in a study in which they had to learn 21 Spanish words within a week, with or without the help of hypnosis. The group that had been under hypnosis showed significantly better results: thanks to the use of hypnosis, they were more able to remember new words.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14547-x

3. A study that shows that people learn to form words more easily in a foreign language when their prefrontal cortex is less active.
When their prefrontal cortex was less active (like when you're under hypnosis), the participants in this study found it easier to memorize parts of words. The assumption is that the prefrontal cortex “competes” with our word and language learning abilities. When the prefrontal cortex is less active (such as during hypnosis), it is therefore easier to learn a new language.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1978.tb00310.x

Anyone can experience a state of hypnosis. This can happen spontaneously, such as when you are completely absorbed in a book, but you can also go into a state of hypnosis when you are guided into it by what we call an induction. Both versions of hypnosis, spontaneous hypnosis and hypnosis as a result of an induction, are accessible to everyone.
It is true that everyone experiences hypnosis differently. Not everyone goes under hypnosis in the same way, so the approach to hypnosis can be slightly different for each person.
Going under hypnosis is also a matter of practice. If you go under hypnosis more regularly, it becomes easier to go under hypnosis.
This practice comes naturally in the language lessons of Heart of Language, because there are short hypnosis inductions in every lesson. There is also an initial session specifically intended as a hypnosis session. In this session you will prepare your course and have an optimal mindset so you can learn and speak your new language quickly.

We have never had a student for whom our method did not work. However, your progress will be greatly enhanced by practicing daily. We provide short recordings from your lessons that you are required to listen to and practice repeating out loud, possibly while doing another activity like walking or cooking. If you can commit to this daily practice of at least 15 minutes, your progress will be significantly boosted.

Are you curious about how the method will work for you? For example, do you feel you "have no talent for languages" or have you previously taken several language courses without much success? During a discovery lesson, you will experience firsthand how effective and enjoyable language lessons under hypnosis are, and we will address all your questions.

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The form of hypnosis that we use during your language lessons at Heart of Language is called humanistic hypnosis.
Humanistic hypnosis is a very respectful form of hypnosis. It is not our goal to separate your conscious from your subconscious (so that you don't remember anything afterwards), not at all! We put you under hypnosis to increase your awareness. The idea is that your prefrontal cortex (which normally thinks, arranges and decides things) is lulled to sleep. What happens then is that you are much more attentive and 'open' to life, because your head is not constantly busy interpreting and rationalizing everything.
During the hypnosis you always stay fully present: you get everything and you can move freely. So you don't have to worry that things you don’t want will happen or that you won't remember anything from when you were under hypnosis. Not at all: you remember everything very well. It feels nice, because your attention is still there, but your 'worrying and planning head' has been lulled to sleep for a while. So you can fully concentrate on the lesson, without all kinds of other thoughts going through your head.
When you sleep, you are unaware of what is going on around you, and we say that you 'fall' asleep. In hypnosis, it is not a matter of 'falling': you do not descend, but rather ascend, to a peaceful state in which you feel good and can fully focus on what your senses perceive. You can come out of hypnosis at any time.

You don't have to do anything yourself to go under hypnosis during your language lesson. It is not necessary to concentrate, for example, or to try to relax completely.
During the lessons, your teacher always tells you when it is time to go under hypnosis. So you know exactly what will happen.
You sit or lie in a relaxing chair, with headphones on. Through your headphones you can hear the hypnosis induction, and afterwards you hear the voice of your teacher, who talks calmly to you. You can hear calm, relaxing music or other sounds in the background, which contribute to your learning process.

You don't have to do anything special, you just have to listen, and even that doesn't have to be in any specific way. It doesn't matter if you have certain expectations, or if you might have prejudices. Just let it happen while sitting or lying comfortably.
You will see how relaxed you feel during hypnosis: you are passive, and at other times actively speaking and that feels pleasant. You are, as it were, less rigid, because your head no longer immediately analyses everything you observe and 'puts it in a box'. You have no judgment and have a kind of natural curiosity. That curiosity helps you to open up completely to what you will be doing during your language lesson.

We always look at what you want to learn, which determines the content and form of your lessons. Sometimes it is necessary to also plan parts of your lessons or entire lessons where you are not under hypnosis, so that you can learn to read and write a language well.
This applies to all languages, but especially to languages that have a different script than the one you are used to. As a Dutch person, for example, you know the Latin script and you will need specific writing lessons to learn to write and/or read Chinese characters or the Cyrillic script.

Certainly! We have already had quite a few students like you, students 'without a knack for languages'. And those same students were then amazed at their own learning ability thanks to our lessons!
The language courses of Heart of Language are really different from 'regular' language courses. Here are the two major differences:
1. You take your language lessons with us under hypnosis, so the learning process is very different.
2. You follow all your lessons 1-on-1 and they are specially tailored.
So you learn in a completely different way: you don't have to memorize lists, you don't have to do exercises, you don't have to memorize grammar rules... You learn much more naturally, it's similar to the way you learned your native language. Without force, without concentration problems, and with very little homework. And these are precisely the points that often prevent the regular language education from working.
In addition, you will learn what you want to learn with us. So you are motivated, you learn effectively thanks to the hypnosis, and exactly at your pace, because you choose that pace yourself.

A lesson at our language institutes in The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht or Leiden is always an individual lesson, or a lesson for two people that you follow together with, for example, a friend, your partner or a colleague.

You relax in a comfortable chair with headphones on, your teacher sits opposite you. You will hear a hypnosis induction of a few minutes through your headphones, which will put you under hypnosis or deep relaxation.

Part of the lesson consists of listening to what your teacher says through headphones. You then repeat, still under hypnosis, words and sentences that your teacher tells you first. Thanks to hypnosis, this is done in a very relaxed way. Your lesson under hypnosis is therefore a combination of passive listening and 'active' speaking, but feels completely relaxed.

You don't have to do or be able to do anything special to take a lesson at Heart of Language. You can find a detailed description of how your lesson goes on the A typical lesson page.

The discovery lesson is mainly intended to introduce you to our method: learning under hypnosis. We are the only one teaching under hypnosis in the Netherlands, so we understand very well if you first want to get acquainted with it without obligation.

During the discovery lesson, you go under hypnosis or deep relaxation. You will then experience what this is like, and you will see: it does not feel strange or unusual at all. It feels very relaxed and you focus completely on what the teacher is telling you through your headphones.

Do you want to know what learning under hypnosis feels like? Experience it during a discovery lesson, online or at our language institutes in The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht or Leiden.

Making mistakes is not a bad thing at all. You learn from that. Only when we start speaking a language, no matter how imperfect, do we become better speakers.
Do you find speaking in a foreign language the most stressful thing there is? Then Heart of Language is exactly what you are looking for. Because you learn with us under hypnosis, you don't feel fear or embarrassment to speak. Hypnosis helps you get over your fear, without you noticing it. You will see: soon your fear of speaking will be a thing of the past! No, you don't just suddenly speak the language perfectly. But that's okay. Making mistakes is allowed. You speak well enough at this moment, right now. And because you speak the language, you keep learning and improving. Fantastic right?

Absolutely! Children who have difficulty learning (a language) in the classical, classroom way at school benefit greatly from our method. From about 10 years old, a child can take lessons with us.

Our method removes the insecurity that many children have when learning lists of vocabulary or grammar rules feels difficult. We also often see children who, due to concentration problems or learning difficulties, have great difficulty with the systematic way of learning at school. Thanks to our method, they regain self-confidence and enjoy learning again. That makes learning a language with our method not only more effective, but also much more fun and good for the self-image!
Feel free to book a trial session and come and experience how our method works with your child or teenager. You’re very welcome!

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Of course, you are never too old to learn. Certainly not with our method! You follow our language lessons under hypnosis, which means that your brain is fully receptive to new influences. This applies just as much to an 'old' brain as to a young brain.
What's also great is that you can follow our lessons at your own pace. Maybe you don't like the idea of 'having to' go to The Hague or Utrecht every week, for example. That is not necessary at all! You choose how often you come here, and how long your lessons last.
Long lessons under hypnosis are not at the expense of your concentration. On the contrary: many of our students are surprised that after, for example, 6 or 8 hours of lessons on the same day, they still have as much energy as before, or even more! That's because of hypnosis: that's such a relaxed state that it feels energizing.
We are also happy to come to you if you prefer. Or opt for our online language course and take part or all of your lessons online! Feel free to contact us to discuss the possibilities without obligation.

Naturally! Your lessons are individual, so you decide in consultation with your teacher when you take your lessons. For example, you can follow our full 40-hour course in 1 week, but you can also divide it over, for example, 20 weeks. Or do half during your vacation, and schedule the other half in 2-hour sessions every week.

You decide how long a session lasts. For example, always booking sessions of 2 hours or more is an efficient way to learn the language. In total you can follow lessons for up to 8 hours a day. We often hear from students that, even after long sessions, they have more energy than before! That's because hypnosis is so deeply relaxing.

Another great option: combine your language lessons at Heart of Language online and on site! You will then partly take lessons at our language institute in The Hague, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Leiden or in-company, and partly online. A full online language course is also possible.

The lessons you follow with us are individual lessons. So, you get private lessons. That is of course more expensive than a group lesson that you follow as a class.

On the other hand, with us you schedule your lessons at your own pace (which also fits within your agenda) and learn much faster and completely relaxed thanks to our unique method. Also look at the end result: you speak the language well, confidently and with pleasure. All in all, our students say it again and again: this course is well worth the investment.

We often hear this from customers who first followed group lessons elsewhere and eventually came to us: they immediately notice a difference in their learning pleasure and progress and are happy with their investment.

Feel free to come and experience our language lessons under hypnosis for yourself. You can follow a discovery lesson in The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht or Leiden, but also online at home on your couch. Will we see you soon?

Schedule a trial lesson