What Is Hypnosis?

 

Hypnosis is a natural state of mind that you often experience throughout your day. Whenever you are engrossed in a book or motion picture, a favorite pastime or hobby, daydreaming, or listening to an engaging speaker, you are in a natural hypnotic “trance.” Your attention is so focused that outside stimuli are ignored or “tuned out” for that period of time. This focused attention enhances the acceptance of suggestions and the response by the subconscious mind.

 

Some describe hypnosis as “selective perception,” where your attention is fully focused on what you are visualizing, while blocking out everything else. Others describe hypnosis as a journey into the center of yourself.

 

Like a magnifying glass that focuses the rays of the sun and makes them more powerful, hypnosis enhances the power of your mind and harnesses your mental energy to help you make lasting and permanent changes.

 

 

Is Hypnosis Safe And Effective?

 

Hypnosis has been accepted and endorsed for medical and therapeutic purposes by many professional organizations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association.  Hypnosis is also proven to be highly effective for improving quality of life, pain management, and enhancing pre-surgical and post-surgical outcomes and healing.

 

What Is The Difference Between Hypnosis And Hypnotherapy?

 

Hypnosis is an entirely natural phenomenon that we all experience every day.  It is that deeply relaxed state that we enter just before we fall asleep or immediately on wakening in the morning.  Ever driven along a familiar route, got to your destination and thought "I don't actually remember anything of that journey?".  That is a well-documented phenomenon called "highway hypnosis".  Other naturally occurring hypnotic states include daydreaming or becoming so totally engrossed in a book or TV program that we are totally oblivious to what is going on around us.

 

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness characterized by profound physical and mental relaxation.  In this very pleasant, deeply relaxed state our minds become more focused and we can access the subconscious mind allowing us to change harmful patterns of behavior (e.g. stop smoking).

 

Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis to treat physical or psychological problems.  Many people have found tremendous relief from a variety of problems using hypnotherapy - often when other forms of intervention have failed.  Continuing research contributes to our understanding of what conditions may benefit from hypnotherapy.  For example there is a considerable body of evidence supporting the benefits of hypnotherapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and for childbirth.

 

 

What hypnosis can be used for:

 

Stop Smoking

Weight Reduction

Preparation for Surgery

Stress Reduction

Pain Management

Changing Unwanted Habits

Managing Chronic Health Conditions

                                          Performance Enhancement

Self-Confidence/ Self-Esteem

Sleep Improvement

Motivation/Creativity

Plus Much More

 

 

Why Does Hypnosis Work?

 

The conscious mind, the analytical reasoning part of our mind, comprises only ten percent of our mind. The other ninety percent is our subconscious mind. 

 

The subconscious mind, like a “hard drive” of a computer, is not limited by time, space or logic. It contains a wisdom far beyond our everyday capabilities and has access to all our resources and abilities. 

 

A hypnotherapist  guides a client into hypnosis, a relaxed state of body and mind. The conscious/analytical reasoning part of our mind is then bypassed, and the subconscious mind, the seat of all behaviors, becomes much more alert. In this state, the subconscious mind can then be directed—through visualization and positive reinforced suggestions—to make the desirable changes. Once your subconscious mind accepts these new thoughts and behaviors, you automatically accept them at the conscious level.

 

Hypnosis also increases your sense of optimism and well-being by reducing anxiety, building confidence and mentally rehearsing successful outcomes.

 

The formula for hypnosis is basically expectation, belief and imagination coupled with suggestion.

 

“If you go there in your mind, you’ll go there in your body.”

Denis Waitley PhD

Psychologist, Field of Mind Potential

 

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

Albert Einstein

 

 

 

What Is A Hypnosis Session Like?

 

Your first session is about gathering information and establishing goals. The hypnotherapist may then ask you to do some preliminary suggestibility exercises to determine what approach will work best for you.

 

The hypnotherapist will also explain what hypnosis is and discuss any misconceptions you might have. Together you will set believable, realistic, and positive goals. Hypnosis is a team effort. After all, “all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis,” and the hypnotherapist is simply a guide to assist you in the process.

 

The hypnotherapist will then guide you through a gentle process to help relax your conscious mind. This allows you to access your subconscious mind, the hard drive of your internal computer, and direct it, through positive reinforced statements and suggestions, to make the desired or necessary changes.

 

Your hypnotherapist may provide you with a CD or other materials to reinforce your new behaviors.

 

You and your hypnotherapist will determine the number of sessions in the first visit or after, depending on how you are progressing.