Hypnosis - Facts and Fiction
What is hypnosis?
It is not a special state of awareness or access to an unconscious mind. Hypnosis is a way to use your focus and imagination, alongside a curious, ‘have a go and see what happens’ mindset to increase your receptivity to new instructions. Simply put, it’s an easy and pleasant way to re-program your brain. You can program new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that reach deep down, to your core.
How will I know it’s working?
If you don’t have a trance experience, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t worked. Some people stay perfectly aware and alert throughout, yet have profound responses to the suggestions made. Watching for incremental changes will develop your awareness of your response to the suggestions.
Does that mean someone can control you through hypnosis?
No. You create the experience and You decide which suggestions to integrate into your new narrative. You will always know what you are doing and be in control. You are the agent of the hypnosis. It is your mind focusing, imagining, controling the thoughts you allow and the ones you discard.
How do suggestions work?
The mind is always forging new pathways and connections. Suggestions are a way of using the mind’s flexibility to write new instructions. It helps to understand hypnosis is about focusing all your attention on the single idea we are working on, then freeing yourself to become as absorbed in your imagination as you possibly can, using the mindfulness and focused attention skills to take the power away from negative self talk, freeing yourself to really believe in the suggestion and trusting you will keep yourself safe.
Can I do it on my own?
Absolutely! In fact, that is exactly where I want to get you. Through skills training you will learn to improve your hypnotic response and the effectiveness of the suggestions. You will also learn how to create suggestions for yourself, so you can use the strategies you learn to help with issues that occur in the future.
So what does the hypnotherapist do?
A hypnotherapist helps you learn the skills of hypnosis, while offering therapeutic support on your journey. A Cognitive Behavioral Hypnotherapist has the added advantage of CBT training to accurately evaluate issues, identify effective strategies, and implement them correctly.
Hypnosis is just one of the many interventions available to help you.
“I am pleased with the process. Initially, I did feel silly closing my eyes and trying to listen to her voice but she made me feel quite comfortable by the end of the process.” - C.R.
Focused Attention
Focused attention allows us to direct the power of the mind on a single idea or task. Learning to disregard other thoughts or sensations increases effectiveness when giving your mind new instructions.
The mind is a powerful tool that we rarely use at full strength. Focused attention helps us to access more of our mental skills and abilities.
Focused attention lets us deepen our imagined experience, raising the effectiveness of the hypnotic intervention.
Imagination
Can you remember what it felt like to imagine like a child? To hold the imagined world as solidly real while remaining aware of the world around? Research shows that simply using our imaginations can trigger different responses in our bodies. By imaging something as if it were real, we allow our minds to create the changes we seek. And the more we do it, the stronger, deeper, richer our imagination becomes.
To be able to step into the infinite wonder of our imaginations is a gift many of us limit or deny ourselves. When was the last time you let yourself experience that?
Let go, stop trying
When we try to do something we are not doing the thing we are trying to do. Weird, right? If you try to make yourself breathe ‘normally’, putting effort into controlling the depth and pace of your breathing, you will struggle to perform this effortless daily activity.
When you let go and stop trying, your brain runs on autopilot.
So, how can you do that in hypnosis?
By simply being present in the moment, curious about the process and adopting a ‘let’s see what happens’ attitude.
When you stop expecting, evaluating, questioning, and judging, your mind can start doing.
This is a skill that can be trained and improved with practice.
Incremental Gains
Hypnosis is a skill, and like all skills it can be improved through practice. Everyone has a different level of innate ability. Acknowledge your gains, even incremental gains have impact.