I mentioned in my weekly ezine last week that it has really been a Mad March for me this year. I had two seminars and my local diploma course to teach at the start of the month, then went off to teach in Iceland, then had an event in London at the Royal Society of Medicine, and then at the end of last week I flew out from London to Copenhagen to teach at the Denmark NGH annual conference.

My love affair with Scandinavia continues to grow as a result. My Mother was Norwegian and I have family in Norway, I studied in Finland while at University, and I have travelled around Scandinavia aplenty – and getting to return to Denmark to teach has been wonderful. The above picture states “flying the hypnotherapy flag in Denmark” but that flag is being waved already by the hypnotherapists and hypnosis community based in Denmark, as I discovered.

I flew into Copenhagen last Friday and was picked up at the airport by one of the NGH board members, Carsten – he had done most of the organisation with me for this trip and is someone who has become a good friend of mine. Him and his wife picked me up and were great company on our 2 hour drive west across Denmark to the Isle of Fyn where the event was being held.

We got to cross one of Europe’s largest suspension bridges along the way. I admit it, driving over massive bridges with amazing views over the seas really excites me! Here are a couple of pictures:


And this one….


We arrived at the venue and having been up at 5am, I was able to have a rest, get showered up and then Carsten and I were joined by the other NGH board members for pre-dinner drinks, followed by a great dinner, and more drinks.

One thing I loved about the venue, was the food being so great. Though I questioned that the salad bar had a bowl of garlic which people were piling onto their dinner and on this occasion I often not to partake in the garlic due to me teaching in the morning and me wanting to ensure that my training room was not going to smell like an onion farm for the day. Exhibit A:


We had breakfast together in the morning and I got to meet some of the delegates, and also catch up with a couple of familiar faces. Among other things, I got to eat an actual Danish Pastry, one of the local recipes, these things were incredibly delicious….


Then I was teaching for the day. I taught in detail about the science of self-hypnosis, and the advancement of immune functioning. Had fabulous facilities, including a very cool big screen, and we were underway.


And me teaching with coffee in hand….


During the breaks, the food was incredible again, the people were really open to the subject and I got to speak in depth to everyone throughout. As I have found with so many of the countries I visit and teach at, there is a growing, enthusiastic hypnotherapy community in Denmark. We had an incredible in-class experience with Nadhir, a dentist who drew upon his dentistry experience during the glove anaesthesia exercise and his hand was incredibly (unbelievably so) cold to the touch – several of us tested it as evidence of what he was able to do with the right mindset.

When I had finished teaching, there was time to get showered and changed before we met for pre-dinner Danish beers, then a banquet dinner which was fabulous. We had a real feast, lots of wine and we sang Danish songs and I was belly laughing hard throughout the entire thing.



Just as I thought it was time to finish up and call it a day, I was told that there was a special chalet style building that had been laid on for us to now go and party; with a fridge full of crates full of Danish beer, music would be played, and the real fun would get underway. This place was delightful – they had sofas, games, music, and I got to dance, have more belly laughs and spend some serious time in the kitchen putting the world to rights and discussing hypnosis.

I met a really great guy doing some amazing research in Denmark, using hypnosis with people who have suffered brain injuries, Jonas is someone to look out for and I shall be exchanging research papers with him for sure.

I was in the middle of a heavy round of banter with a group of people and someone mentioned the it was 3.30am and he was going to bed and so I decided that I ought to return too and despite the sideways snow and the -5 degree temperatures, I walked back without a jacket – I did not need one. I was filled with the warm glow of Danish beer and good cheer.

Managed to make it down for the group breakfast, spent some time relaxing and enjoying the facilities before heading back.

Upon arrival at Copenhagen airport, I was met with the news that due to the snow in England, my flight was going to be delayed at the very least and may be cancelled, and I’m not going to write about my travel nightmare home, as the weekend was such a wonderful time, that I want to focus on the good stuff.

It is encouraging for me to meet groups of hypnosis professionals who are receptive and open to what I present. However, not only were the Danish people incredibly good fun, very sociable and with hilarious senses of humour, they looked after me wonderfully well, were kind, thoughtful, generous and the people are what really stand out for me.

This was a fabulous trip, I made many friends, and though at times my teaching around the world seems like a crusade (I refer you to everything I write about wanting to advance the field of hypnotherapy), this trip was an absolute pleasure from start to finish – and no travel disruption was going to mar that.

To Carsten who drove me around, made me laugh; to Lene and Annalise who were always checking that I had everything I needed; to Michael, John, Mads and Jan (among many others) who made me laugh so hard – and all the other guys over there in Denmark – thank you, you are awesome, and the hypnotherapy field around the world is better for having you guys in it.