What Can Hypnosis Do For You?
Hypnosis in and of itself can do nothing. Hypnosis is a tool that allows you to enter the hypnotic state. It is what you do during the hypnotic state where the magic of change occurs.
So what is hypnosis?
Amazingly, even after hundreds of years there is no straight answer or agreed definition for hypnosis. I like Dave Elman’s definition and that is “Hypnosis is a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human is bypasses and selective thinking is established.” The critical faculty is that part of the mind where we have the ability to compare and contrast, where we have the ability to think in opposites and where we have the ability to critique. Once the conscious critical faculty of the mind is bypassed change can occur as new information can be allowed in with a non-critical evaluation.
Another way of understanding hypnosis is as a pleasant, voluntary state of relaxed attentive concentration, an altered state of consciousness, during which the conscious critical mind is relaxed and relatively inactive, and the doorway to the subconscious, inner mind is opened with a person’s permission. In this comfortable state, suggestibility is heightened, mental absorption is increased, the senses are heightened, and the imagination is activated in a controlled manner. The inner mind is more receptive to acceptable, beneficial suggestions.
Every time we focus on something while excluding everything else, we are in a hypnotic state. Every day we go in and out of hypnotic states. I’m sure that there are times when you are reading a book, and you are so engaged in it that you become unaware of what’s happening around you. Other times you get to a place and you have no recollection of how you got there. Hypnosis encompasses anything that alters perception or changes consciousness – anything that encourages a person’s turning inward and having an inner experience that becomes more profound or more important than the outer consensual reality.
There are many uses of hypnosis, some of the most common reasons that people seek out the assistance of a hypnotherapist are for:
- Weight loss
- Stress Management
- The elimination of phobias and fears
- The elimination of anxiety
- Stop smoking
- Pain Control
- Insomnia
No one can be hypnotized against his or her will. You must be a willing subject. Your hypnotherapist must have your full cooperation. During hypnosis you cannot be made to do anything that you are not willing to do. A person must be willing and cooperative for hypnosis to work.
What can you expect from a hypnosis session?
I always start my sessions by reviewing the client’s medical history and with a series of questions to help the client gain clarity on what the presenting issue is. The initial consultation is about exploring what the client wants and most importantly what is preventing that person from achieving what they want. In most cases, people are stuck by limiting beliefs that comes from early in their childhood. When a person is in hypnosis, he or she is relaxed and aware of his or her surroundings. He or she hears the sound of my voice and will remember more or less of what I say. The client is relaxed, comfortable, focused, and in a state of daydream type thinking. His or her analysing, thinking mind (Conscious mind) is turned off and his or her feeling and intuitive, creative mind (Subconscious mind) is aware of everything that is going on.
We can’t change our past, but what we can do is learn from it and change how we feel about our past and hypnosis is a great tool to achieve this.
The most important points to take from this part, is that hypnosis is not mind control and does not weaken will power. Anyone in the right context can enter the state of hypnosis if they chose to allow themselves to. Hypnosis teaches you to align your conscious and unconscious processes so that you become single minded in the fulfilment of your goal.