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Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis
What then is or isn't hypnosis?
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Hypnosis is NOT sleep, trance,
unconsciousness or any other strange state of mind. It is a perfectly
normal state of mind that we experience many times a day.
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You will NOT lose your awareness.
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You will NOT be in someone else's power.
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You will NOT be out of control.
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You will NOT be in a trance.
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You CANNOT be made to do or say anything
you don't want to.
All hypnosis is self-hypnosis
and no one can be hypnotised against their will. You allow yourself to
be guided into hypnosis and you remain in control at all times. You
always know what is happening and you are in full awareness at all
times. You can stop the session at any time just by opening your eyes
and saying, "I don't want to do this anymore."
You have experienced
hypnosis on a daily basis except you wouldn't call it that. People go
into light hypnosis every day of their lives -
- Unless
you are one of those people who leap out of bed instantly wide-awake
then you will experience this hypnosis state of mind in that dreamy
drifty place as you are waking up. That's what snooze buttons are
for, so you go through it every time you wake up.
- Students are
very good at it in lectures all lying around as though they are
asleep and yet at the end of the lecture they are all up and gone,
because they're not actually asleep. They are fully aware the
lecture has ended.
- Another time you
experience it is at work, team meetings, staff meetings, sitting
there, same old stuff, just before dozing off and then coming back
with a sudden jerk-start. Am I snoring? Did someone notice? Did
someone speak to me, am I drooling? That moment when everything
seems to drift off into the distance.
- Have you ever caught
yourself daydreaming and not been aware of things happening around
you?
- Have you ever been
so absorbed in a book or watching a film or TV that you haven't
realised an hour or two has gone by?
- Children are very
good at this because another aspect of the hypnosis state of mind is
a very focused attention. Put them in front of the telly with their
favourite programme on and they will get totally absorbed into the
program. If you say anything to them you are unlikely to get a
response. What happens is that their attention becomes very focused
and so peripheral things around the outside tend to disappear.
You may well have experienced this with your partner or a friend
who's watching their favourite programme on telly. You may come in
the room and ask them if they want a drink or something, you will be
lucky if you get a more than a grunt in reply.
- Ever been on the bus
and missed your bus stop? You are fully aware that you are on the
bus and all the physical experience of sitting there but your mind
is away somewhere else and you become unaware of time or distance
passing. You've gone into hypnosis and your imagination is away
doing other things..
- Drivers do it all
the time. You leave home and drive to a familiar destination - what
happened in between? Don't know, can't remember - and yet you were
driving with absolute safety and would have responded to any
emergency situation that arose.
One part of your brain was driving you safely whilst another part of
your brain was away with the fairies somewhere.
Just so in the
hypnotherapy session - one part of your brain is in absolute control
of yourself and the session. It is the part of your brain that is
'away with the fairies somewhere' that I am working with using your
creative imagination to create new ways of being for yourself.
These are all
experiences of hypnosis. The main difference between these experiences
and purposeful hypnosis is the specific motivations and
suggestions towards a desired goal and being creative rather than
having random daydreams about your life events.
Hypnotherapy encourages
the mind to achieve some desired result like pain or stress relief,
positive self-image, freedom from a phobia, positive self-control (as
in stopping smoking) etc. The day-dreamy state is so familiar that it
is common for people to disbelieve that they have been in hypnosis at
the end of the first session.
Will I lose control without
knowing it?
Hypnotherapists do not possess the power to control other people's
minds. They guide you into deep relaxation so that positive
suggestions can be made to the subconscious mind using creative
imagination. If you don't want to reveal things that are
private, you won't. You are in control of everything you say and do.
Can I be made to do some
thing against my will?
What about those performers
on TV and stage?
NO. Pub and Club shows where people run around like chickens or dance
with brooms thinking they are dancing with someone beautiful or eat an
onion as though it were an apple create a
misunderstanding of what is really happening. The guinea-pigs in those
situations could actually choose not to behave like that but they just
don't know that due to the general public ignorance about these things. This is fully explained in your first session so that
you have clear understanding of what is happening.
The stage hypnotist has
contributed to the image of hypnosis as a 'trance' or 'out-of -this-world'
state. In fact the opposite is
true: under hypnosis all your five senses are heightened and you will
feel fully 'wide awake' and in control.
Any suggestions made
which are contrary to your inner
convictions will either be ignored by you or you will come out of the
hypnotic state.
Can I be stuck in a hypnotic
state?
No, since it is the person being hypnotised who actually induces
him/herself through self-hypnosis. Just as anyone cannot be
hypnotised against their own will, they can bring themselves out in a split
second.
Will I be
aware of what is happening?
Yes. The predominant
feeling for some people is - "It didn't work for me - I never went under".
Until they discover that they think and insist the session lasted only
5 - 10 minutes when actually it was an hour or more.
How does
hypnotherapy work?
Under hypnosis all outside distractions are eliminated and your
attention is focused on the hypnotherapist's voice. It is this profound concentration
that permits the creative suggestions being made to get into the
brain and into the subconscious in a way which your normal
critical-defensive conscious mind won't allow and you are guided to
adopt new, desired and beneficial ways of being.
If you have more
questions, email them here.
"Sticks
and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt
me." - not true.
The damage from
sticks and stones will heal but the damage caused by
words can last a life-time. Hypnotherapy
can get to those long-lost memories and bring healing to
that damage enabling you to lead a
fuller, better quality of life now.
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