Hypnosis
H helping and healing yourself
Y you are in control
P puts you in touch with the unconscious and your higher mind
N not sleep, though a relaxed state
O only as far as you want to go
S safely allowing you therapeutic insights
I intensified attention and receptiveness
S staying focused on issues
Imagine an Iceberg. With an Iceberg only a small fraction is actually ever seen above the water. The same is capable of being said with the human brain. It is also capable of being divided into two areas, the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious mind being one tenths and the unconscious mind being nine tenths.
The conscious part is the small fraction, and is the part that is reading this, word by word, in your head. It is only capable of holding a small amount of information at one time. It is the logical, analytical and critical of facts. It sorts information, then moves onto the next point.
The Unconscious part deals with memories, intelligence, creativity and everyday matters, which humans do not require to directly think about, such as breathing. This is hidden away, and it is rare you actually realise were using, though it is there, hidden under the "waves."
What hypnosis does is allow your unconscious mind to listen, while your conscious mind takes a rest. When you are hypnotised, you are still in control, just allowing someone to guide you to where you want to be.
There are many types of hypnosis and hypnotherapy, some of which are more effective than others. Most forms of hypnosis rely only on external direct suggestion to the unconscious mind with no consideration of the underlying actual causes of the unwanted behaviour, habit or symptom. While this method is capable of being helpful, it is capable of being coercive and the external suggestion often does not remain effective over time.
What is Hypnotherapy?
"Hypnosis is an inferred psychophysiological state characterised by increased suggestibility, and is thought to be an altered state of consciousness. Hypnotism is the study and use of suggestion with or without the presence of hypnosis, while hypnotherapy is a form of therapy in which the use of hypnotism constitutes the core of the treatment."
Modern hypnosis has been used for hundreds of years to build self-confidence, change habits, lose weight with weight loss programs, stop smoking, improve memory, end behavior problems in children and eliminate anxiety, fear and phobias.
What is hypnosis? Hypnosis is a state of mind characterised by relaxed brain waves and a state of hyper-suggestibility. Hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions have played a major role in healing for thousands of years. According to the World Health Organization, 90% of the general population is capable of being hypnotized. Hypnosis is a entirely normal state that just about everyone has experienced. What is referred to as "highway hypnosis" is a natural hypnotic state. You drive somewhere and you do not remember driving or even remember seeing the usual landmarks. You are on automatic pilot. The natural hypnotic state also exists when you become so involved in a book, TV show or some other activity that everything else is blocked out. Someone is capable of speaking to you and you do not even see or hear them. Whenever you concentrate that strongly, you automatically slip into the natural hypnotic state.
The hypnotic state, by itself, is only useful for the relaxation it produces. The real importance of hypnosis to the healing and psychological change process is that while you are in the hypnotic state, your mind is open and receptive to suggestions. Constructive and healing suggestions are able to sink deeply into your mind much more quickly and strongly than when you are in a normal, awake state of mind. We say constructive suggestions for the reason that all research has demonstrated that while in the hypnotic state, you are not capable of being made to do anything against your moral values.
All of your habitual and behaviour controlling thoughts reside in what is referred to as your subconscious mind. It is referred to, as being that for the reason that it is deeper than your conscious mind. It is below your level of consciousness. Most are unaware of the thoughts and way of thinking that reside there. Did you ever forget you had a doctor's appointment or some other appointment that you really did not want to keep? Your subconscious mind is where that thought or memory that you had to go to the doctor at 9 AM went when you did not remember that you had the appointment. Once it was too late to go, your conscious mind relaxed and the memory returned.
Imagine that there is a trap door between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind. Normally, the trap door is closed until your brain waves slow down to a relaxed, alpha brain wave level. This happens when you are asleep. The door opens for short periods of time and ideas, images and thoughts come out of your subconscious mind. What comes out in your sleep is referred to as "dreams." When you are in a state of hypnosis, the door also opens so deemed helpful suggestions are capable of being directed into your subconscious mind or forgotten memories are capable of being retrieved.
The hypnotic induction that hypnotists' use is simply a way to focus your attention and concentration so you will go into that natural, normal hypnotic state. Once in the state of hypnosis, the trap door opens and suggestions to assist you are capable of being given. The list of ways hypnosis has been used to assist children, adolescents and adults is practically endless though does include: weight loss, stopping smoking, building self-confidence and self-esteem, improving academic performance at every age level, improving test taking ability from children through high school, college, medical and law school as well as the National Teacher Certification Exam, pain management, eliminating anxiety, perceived fear and phobias, stress management, insomnia and other deemed sleep problems and assisting to heal deemed physical problems.
Milton Erickson, an American M.D., taught that:
- Each person is a unique individual. Hence, psychotherapy/hypnotherapy ought to be formulated to meet the individual's requirements, rather than expecting the person to fit the system.
- Every person has within himself/herself all the resources necessary to get over any perceived problem, and the duty of the therapist is to enable the person to access and utilise those resources.
Though to really work favourably, suggestions are required to be reinforced by repetition. Most of the habits, ways of thinking and emotional (JUNK) you wish to change is deeply implanted in your subconscious mind and will not just "go away" with one set of suggestions. Most of the time, the hypnotic suggestions require to be repeated on a regular basis until you notice a change. This is one reason that most specialists in hypnosis give clients cassette tapes of their sessions as that they will be capable of listening to them every day. It is also the reason why hypnosis tapes you buy may work favourably. You get to listen to them every day or often enough that the suggestions become permanently a part of you. There is no way to predict how long it will take to see change. It will depend partly on your motivation and commitment.
The Three Keys to the successful use of hypnosis for self-improvement and personal growth are self-motivation, repetition and believable suggestions.
- The motivation to change is required to come from within you. If you are attempting to change for the reason that someone else wants you to "lose weight" or "stop smoking", the chances are immensely reduced that the hypnosis will work. For example, we have worked with many people for weight loss or to quit smoking who came to us for the reason that their physician, spouse or mate wanted them to change. These people do not respond as well to the hypnosis as those who really want to change. Those who came for the reason that they wanted to quit smoking or lose weight responded quickly and easily. Before you choose to use hypnosis for your self-improvement, you ought to get it clear in your own mind why you want to change. This clear intention to change will assist the hypnotic suggestions to take hold and manifest themselves in your everyday life.
- The second key to really work wonderfully is suggestions are required to be reinforced by repetition. Most of the habits, ways of thinking and emotional (JUNK) you may want to change are deeply implanted in your subconscious mind and will not just "go away" with one set of suggestions. Most of the time, the hypnotic suggestions requires to be repeated on a regular basis until you notice a change. This is one reason that most specialists in hypnosis give clients cassette tapes of their sessions so they will be capable of listening to them every day. It is also the reason why hypnosis tapes you buy may work favourably well. You get to listen to them every day or often enough that the suggestions become permanently a part of you. There is no way to predict how long it will take to see change. It will depend partly on your motivation and commitment.
- The third key to the successful use of hypnosis for personal change is believable suggestions. If you are to accept a suggestion, your mind is required to first accept it as a real possibility. Telling a chocoholic that chocolate will be disgusting to them and will make them sick is a real big a stretch for their imagination. If a suggestion such as this even took hold, it would only last a short time for the reason that it would be so unbelievable to a real chocolate lover. In cases like this, one of the successful weight loss suggestions we use is that the next time the individual eats chocolate, it will not taste quite as delightful as the time before. This is far more acceptable and believable to most people. Then, with enough repetition over a period of time, chocolate loses much of its constructive taste and psychological control over that person.
The Basic Types of Hypnosis
- Self Hypnosis
(hypnotizing yourself, just like meditation)
- Hetero-Hypnosis
(hypnosis of one person by another, generally a hypnotist)
- Stage Hypnosis
(Hypnotizing subjects (volunteers) for entertainment purposes)
- Hypnotherapy
(hypnosis for therapy, normally hetero-hypnosis)
- Forensic (Investigative) Hypnosis
(Hetero-Hypnosis to improve recall of past events)
- Sports Improvement Hypnosis
(Hypnosis to improve any physical or sports ability)
- Learning (memory) Improvement Hypnosis
(Hypnosis to release learning blocks and improve recall & other learning abilities)
- Group Hypnosis
(Hetero-Hypnosis of groups of more than 2 subjects at the same time)
