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Information Center What is Hypnosis :: Myths & Facts :: Healing Benefits :: Case Studies HYPNOSIS: WHAT IS IT? Hypnosis has many definitions. Perhaps the simplest one is that hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness in which the subconscious mind plays the dominant role. The subconscious mind is that part of our mind that holds our long-term memories, our habits, and our emotions. Everything we have ever thought, felt, tasted, smelled, seen, heard, read, or fantasized is recorded in our subconscious mind. The seat of our habits and the steering wheel of our behaviors lie within the subconscious mind. Hypnosis is often used to help a person achieve a desired change, whatever that may be. For some it is to lose weight. For others it may be to stop smoking, enhance sports performance, enhance self-esteem or memory and concentration. Others use hypnosis to lessen or eliminate pain. Whatever it is used for, the process is much the same. When the person is in that “altered state of consciousness” it opens the window to their subconscious mind, and the Hypnotherapist can then speak to that subconscious mind, giving it the suggestions that are needed to effect the desired change. If a person really wants the stated or suggested change, his or her subconscious mind accepts the suggestions for changed attitude, perception, or behavior and the desired change comes about. Hypnosis is not sleep. The brain waves in sleep and the brain waves in hypnosis are quite different. When you are hypnotized, you can be perfectly aware of your surroundings. Neither is hypnosis mind control. In hypnosis you do retain your will; you have the power to reject a suggestion given in hypnosis, either by ignoring it, or by coming out of the hypnotic state. Nor is hypnosis a “truth serum.” While hypnosis is used at times voluntarily to help people retrieve memories (as in criminal cases, where a helpful witness may be hypnotized to remember a license plate number), you will not reveal anything in hypnosis that you choose not to reveal. Hypnosis enables a person to bypass the critical factor of the conscious mind and achieve the attitudinal or behavioral modifications that are desired. It is relaxing, enjoyable, and effective. HYPNOSIS: WHAT TO EXPECT Most people are unaware that they experience hypnosis as a normal part of their everyday lives. If you’ve ever driven a car on the highway and suddenly realized that you don’t recall passing the last five exits, you were in a light state of “waking hypnosis.” Your conscious mind was concentrating on something and it turned the job of driving over to your subconscious mind. When you are just waking up in the morning, not fully awake, hearing outside noises in a dreamy kind of state, that, is a light state of hypnosis. As we go into sleep each night we also pass through a state of light hypnosis before falling asleep. Perhaps the most common hypnotic state is the daydream state. Remember though, that hypnosis is not mind control. (If it were we could start emptying the prisons!) In hypnosis you cannot be made to do anything you do not want to do. Rather, through the use of hypnosis, the client gains control over a part of his or her life that may have been previously out of control. It is important to realize that all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. No one can force you to be hypnotized. The Hypnotherapist simply guides the client into the hypnotic state on purpose to help them achieve their goals. A concern that is fairly often heard is “What if I don’t come out of it?” It is impossible not to come out of it. Even if the hypnotist were to hypnotize you and leave the room, you would eventually get bored and “wake up”, or, if you were really tired, you would have a nice nap and then wake up. Many people who are hypnotized will deny that they were hypnotized because they did not feel anything dramatic. They expect to be asleep or unconscious, when in fact, people who are hypnotized simply feel physically, mentally, and emotionally relaxed. They are alert and aware. They hear what is going on around them and remember everything that was said. "People who are hypnotized for the first time are frequently disappointed to find that they experience nothing overwhelming. They feel mildly relaxed but they remain in touch with reality and in control of their thoughts. They may discover that the hypnotist’s suggestions are quite resistible. Contrary to what most people believe, a person under hypnosis need not fall asleep, or lose contact with his surroundings or relinquish his will. He is often able to recall everything that happened during the trance and will act perfectly normally." (“Psychology Today”) What is important is that even though the client may not “feel anything”, the suggestions given can have a very powerful, very positive effect. What is Hypnosis :: Myths & Facts :: Healing Benefits :: Case Studies

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