In modern times of today, hypnosis still arouses a sense of cautiousness to anyone that has not been educated on the subject. The reality of course, to those that have experienced hypnosis, is that it is in fact much more akin to a feeling of complete relaxation, whereby the whole body feels truly and completely rested – including the mind. Contrary to the perception of the observer and the utilisation of the word ‘sleep’, the subject is not actually asleep and is completely aware of everything that is going on around them.
Interestingly, this ‘trance state’ is something that we all experience naturally from time to time. Just like the term ‘day-dreaming’ whereby you zoned out for several minutes during a class at school or a meeting at work. Another common example used is the time that you were driving along a regular route and then realised that you had been on ‘auto-pilot’ for the last ten minutes while your mind had wondered off onto a far bound subject. So you see that this trance state is in fact a very natural phenomenon and nothing magical or otherwise.
Let me be clear to express that no person can be controlled against their will in hypnosis. The sub-conscious mind is continuously looking after its master, and if the hypnotist were to suggest something that went against the person’s deep morals or rules then they would simply snap out of the relaxed state, and the relationship would be broken. Most people that want to be hypnotised by another, can be. Those that say they cannot, and will not be hypnotised, will not be.
Benefits of Hypnosis:
The benefit of the hypnotic state is that once the conscious (critical) mind is relaxed, there is an ability and opportunity to access the deeper, sub-conscious mind. The sub-conscious mind is far more powerful than our conscious mind, and indeed runs our whole system automatically from birth to death, day in – day out.
Whilst in a calm and relaxed state, we are able to bypass the critical thinking mind and access this sub-conscious powerhouse machine. Think of it as the hard-drive of our system. Under hypnosis, this hard-drive can be de-fragmented, repaired and/or reprogrammed to suit the needs of the owner. The power of even just the most simple use of hypnosis and our sub-conscious mind is vastly underestimated and unfortunately it is vastly wasted by not utilising this amazing gift that we have all been given.
Application of Hypnosis:
After inducing the relaxed trance state, the hypnotist will usually warm the subject up in terms of exercising their imagination and visualisation (key components of the sub-conscious mind). Concluding this, the hypnotist will have a good indication of the types of approach to use as they then introduce suggestions to the sub-conscious mind. General hypnosis has been proven to be effective in a range of phenomena. Some of the common ones include:
– Amnesia (forgetting)
– Anaesthesia (loss of feeling/sensation of pain)
– Analgesia (pain reduction)
– Catalepsy (immobility)
– Dissociation (changing awareness)
– Future pacing (projecting into the future)
– Hallucination (heightened sensations of the 5 senses, of what is not present)
– (or reduced sensations of the 5 senses, of what is present)
– Hypermnesia (enhanced memory recall)
– Ideo-motor response (automatic movement)
– (including enhanced automatic creativity in writing/drawing)
– Post-hypnotic suggestion (carrying out actions after hypnosis)
– Regression (going back in time utilising present knowledge)
– Revivification (re-experiencing past memories)
– Time distortion (adjusting the perception of time to be faster or slower)
Everybody responds differently to hypnosis and for those that respond particularly well – the benefits are endless. There have been some remarkable achievements made by the utilisation of general hypnosis, from unbelievable sporting success to major medical surgery miracles!
The Use of Hypnosis in Therapy: (please click to read more)